Dear LPG, 

I hope that I have left enough time for LPG to put my message out this year although I know that it is a little late.  I just want to talk about Christmas cards, and I am all too aware that I they all should have been written by now.  To me this is one of the first jobs to be done in the run up to the big day.

We are now used to seeing all the high street shops dedicated to selling greeting cards, and the run up to Christmas has to be the time of year when they do most business. 

Most people attribute the sending of the first ever Christmas card to Queen Victoria and her Prince albert in the 1840s, although the internet records that, in 1611, a doctor named Michael Maier sent one to King James I of England and his son the Prince of Wales.

For us old people, they come in handy because you can put money in for your grandchildren and save all that stress for the need to work out what they would appreciate by way of a present.  But for quite a few years we have also been able to order them online so that they arrive as a paper card without you having to leave home, if you know what you are doing with a computer.

I know many people who spend quite a bit of money and time in one of the dedicated shops working out which card will be best for which person, but I have to say that I have given all that up for the most part. 

I would like readers to know that I am not trying to emulate Ebenezer Scrooge as he appeared at the beginning of Charles Dicken’s book, ‘A Christmas carol’ but I now either send electronically pre-ordered Christmas cards to those I know who can receive them via their email inboxes or make and print my own when it comes to those who can’t.   There are now those companies where you use options to set the card up online and the person you send it to still gets a paper card while you spend your time sitting at home agonising over what words to use and what picture is appropriate for each person.  In my opinion you spend just as much time choosing them whichever way you go but if you do go down the electronic route, at least you are at home in the warm and not jostling as you try to get to the card you want with the interruption of all the other shoppers who are doing the same thing.  

We are also constantly being reminded about the paper shortage, but my real problem is that they are so personal and beautiful that I find it really hard to throw them away and I had ended up with carrier bags full of the ones that have been sent to me over the years.  I moved recently and downsizing meant that I had to throw them all away which I found hard to do.  So, I now prefer the ones that I can keep a picture of on my laptop because I know that I will never go through all that again.

JL, Beckenham

JL shares some electronic greeting card websites and the history she uncovered online….

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