Steve: Hi, this is Steve Webb, your OG Godcaster.
Steve: You're about to hear the LifeSpring Advent Calendar, which was recorded in 2006.
Steve: It's a daily show which will run right up to Christmas Day,
Steve: so be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.
Steve: Now, the story of Advent and Christmas is a timeless story, so it doesn't age.
Steve: However, the links and the phone numbers mentioned on the podcast have all changed but one.
Steve: WhyChristmas.com is still current and active,
Steve: and it's the best Christmas information website on the Internet.
Steve: LifeSpringPodcast.com now forwards you to LifeSpringMedia.com.
Steve: And the phone number you'll hear on the show is changed to plus 1-951-732-8511.
Steve: Hello and welcome back.
Steve: I'm Steve Webb, your host, and this is the LifeSpring Advent Calendar, and it's day number four.
Steve: Now, let's see what's behind this door.
Steve: Well, it's an audio Christmas card.
Steve: Hey, someone's organized. Let's see who it's from.
James: To Steve, Leanne, and all the family,
James: I hope you're enjoying doing the Lifespring Advent Calendar with me.
James: Thanks for all your hard work, and happy Christmas.
James: This is James from whychristmas.com.
Steve: Well, thank you, James. That's really nice.
Steve: You know, it's not really work, though. This is fun.
Steve: And there's 21 more to do after this one.
Steve: So, James, you sent this great audio Christmas card.
Steve: Can you tell us about the origins, why we exchange cards at this time of year?
James: Christmas cards are a relatively recent addition to the Christmas festivities,
James: and there's some discussion among Christmas scholars, and yes there are such things,
James: about who sent the first Christmas card.
James: But many, including me, think it was Sir Henry Cole.
James: Sir Henry was a government worker during the early Victorian period,
James: who was very interested in this newfangled public post office over here in Britain,
James: and wondered how it could be more widely used by the general public.
Steve: When was this?
James: The post office was first opened to widespread use in 1840,
James: with the introduction of the penny post stamp.
James: This meant that ordinary people, like you and me, could afford to use the post.
James: Before the introduction of the penny stamp,
James: the post office was really only used by the very, very rich,
James: because it was so expensive.
James: But railways were also becoming more widespread during the UK at this time,
James: and it allowed for much faster postal services.
James: Cards could be posted in an unsealed envelope for only half a penny,
James: and so were very popular in the new post office.
Steve: Okay, so that was 1840.
Steve: When did Sir Henry send the very first card?
James: In 1843, Sir Henry, who also founded what's now the Victorian Albert Museum in London,
James: together with his artist friend John Horsley,
James: designed the first Christmas card and sold a thousand of them for one shilling each.
James: That's about five pence over here, or about three cents in the US,
James: but in Victorian times, a shilling was worth an awful lot more than that.
Steve: Do we know anything about that first card?
James: The first card was made up of three panels, and it caused quite a controversy at the time,
James: as the main centre panel showed a family at a rather lavish Christmas party
James: with young children drinking wine.
James: And the two side panels showed the Christmas spirit,
James: with the poor being fed in one and clothed in the other.
Steve: So did the idea take off right away?
James: Christmas cards became widely produced from the 1860s as printing methods improved,
James: and by the early 1900s the custom had spread throughout Europe
James: and become particularly popular over here in the UK and in Germany.
James: Early cards often featured scenes from the Christmas story
James: and snow scenes were also popular
James: as they'd had a very hard snowy winter over here in 1836.
James: The snow scenes often depicted this winter
James: and you could say it was really the first Christmas nostalgia.
James: However the Victorians also had some very strange tastes in Christmas cards
James: including summer scenes, cards with crosses of them to remind people of Jesus' death as well as his birth,
James: dancing cats and even frogs.
Steve: Frogs? Huh.
Steve: So what about today? Any statistics on how many cards are sent?
James: In the latest US Census, it says that over 1.9 billion, that's billion,
James: season's greetings cards are sent and received in the USA alone each year.
James: Now that's an awful lot of stamps to lick.
Steve: Well thankfully we have self-adhesive stamps here now.
James: With such a large number, it makes me want to get mine sorted out extra early this year.
James: Now where did I put that list?
Steve: This has been day number four of the Lifespring Advent Calendar and I'm Steve Webb.
Steve: The music today was Doug Bolt with Here We Come A Caroling.
Steve: God bless you and remember to get those cards written and in the mail.
Steve: Now I've got to go hang some Christmas lights outside.
Steve: See you tomorrow.
Music: To be loved the whole year through
Music: Let this one gift last forever
Music: It's a love that I get from you
Music: It never gets old
Music: It's a love I need