Advent Calendar December 1st
The First Christmas Card
The first printed Christmas card was produced in 1843 by Sir Henry Cole, a civil servant who had helped Rowland Hill set up the Penny Post in Britain and Ireland three years earlier. The artist was John Horsley.
The card had three panels: the two outer panels showed charity being dispensed to the poor while the centre image was of a large family enjoying red wine, including a young child taking a sip from her mother’s glass. (I remember that happening back in the day, although it was more likely to involve beer and a male relative who had too many glasses himself..)
These cards were advertised with the slogan…a picture emblematical of old English festivity to perpetuate kind recollections between dear friends which, oddly enough, is exactly what I write in my own cards today.
I decided to do a an Advent Calendar this year on the spur of the moment and right now I haven’t a clue what the other images will be and if a theme will emerge. Expect something vaguely historical and, hopefully, a bit interesting.
3 comments on “Advent Calendar December 1st”
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A Good Confession
"Unputdownable" Miriam Stoppard
BRIDGET WHELAN writer 
Dear Friend,
Is Figgy Pudding actually a pudding? Is it like a cake with dates? Have you ever had a date squares?
Last year, an Italian neighbour made these delicious morsels… Dried whole fig slide open with a whole half of fresh toasted walnut inside, and coated in home grown rich amber honey from their family’s farm in Italy. I am embarrassed to say that I probably had more than my share.
Have a great week. Tiffany
Love the sound of your neighbour’s treats. Centuries ago figgy pudding was made from boiled figs, water, wine, ground almonds and honey. By the time of the Christmas song it had become a steamed pudding that was made with raisins and other dried fruit but without a fig in sight.
I think what you call figgy pudding in the US and Canada is called Christmas pudding in the British Isles.
What a lovely idea. In our family, red wine and other spirited beverages were practically forced upon us as children. Did us no harm, hic!