Christmas Letter Cards Offer New Spin on Old Tradition

The first commercial Christmas cards were printed and sent in 1843 in England, and since that time, people around the world have been sending holiday greeting cards.

Writing personal notes inside each card used to be the standard. Then along came the form Christmas letter.

As typewriters and computers became popular, more and more people started stuffing copied Christmas letters inside their cards, trading the short personal note for a less personal, but more detailed message about their life's events over the course of the year. Christmas letter cards take this old tradition and add a new spin to it.

Sending Christmas letters during the holidays is still a very popular tradition. Some people buy colorful Christmas letter paper online or at the store to make their letters more festive, some use digital Christmas letter templates to create their annual updates, and some simply print their letter on a plain piece of paper. But each of these methods requires printing a separate piece of paper and stuffing it inside the greeting card.

Christmas letter cards are changing all that. Now you can have your Christmas letter printed right on your holiday greeting card. And doesn't that make sense? Traditionally, most folded Christmas cards have had an image on the front and a message on the inside, leaving two blanks side of paper. With today's technology, it's easy to upload and add your own images and messages to personalized photo greeting cards, so why not add your Christmas letter (or so other type of semi-lengthy annual update), too?

Several online retailers now offer cards that let you do just that. Pear Tree Greetings, for instance, has several cards that give you plenty of room to write a nice chatty message for all your card recipients.

Shutterfly also has some cool and unusual Christmas cards that make it easy to let your friends and family know what you've been up to. But rather than having to write an entire letter freehand, these cards are designed to make it easy for you to list the top 10 moments of your year or simply provide some highlights, so there's no need to worry about writing a full letter.

With Christmas letter cards, you get to take advantage of today's technology while carrying on an old tradition. Say goodbye forever to stuffing separate paper inside your Christmas cards!