Old Fashioned Christmas: Part 2 (December 6, 2025)

by Scott Sosebee

This is the second in a special Christmas Series on the evolution of some of our seasonal traditions.

Americans follow a number of traditions, accoutrements, and ceremonies during the Christmas season. In many ways such conventions are what gives Christmas its unique standing among holidays. After all, while there are many other celebrations throughout the year, other than perhaps Halloween—which seems to be gaining in stature, if that’s the right word, in recent decades—what other festive atmosphere surrounding an anniversary lasts for over a month! Last week this space examined a bit of the tradition of the decorated Christmas Tree. This week, it will provide a summary of the evolution of the tradition of Christmas Cards and gift-giving.

Much like the tradition of the Christmas Tree, the United States borrowed its concept of the Christmas Card from somewhere else, in this case England, but then adapted it to make it its own. The traditional English Christmas Card was the idea of Henry Cole, a member of the English upper class most well-known as the founder of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Cole, in 1843, found himself in perhaps a rare situation: too many friends and not enough time. A Christmas tradition in England, particularly among the upper classes, was to send the “Christmas and New Year’s Letter,” which was a measure of friendship. It was considered rude not to answer or send such a letter, but Cole found scores of unanswered letters on his desk, and not enough time to answer all of them. He devised an ingenious response that brought about a new “Christmas tradition” in England. Cole contacted his friend J.C. Horsley, an artist, and asked him to design an illustration of a family eating a Christmas dinner, but also helping the poor, another tradition of the English aristocracy. He printed Horsley’s artwork on a piece of cardboard and was thus able to send one out to al his friends via the British “penny post” system. A tradition was born, and Cole’s response to his quandary became a craze in England, sweeping the country over the next decade. The “Christmas Cards,” as they became known, usually kept the same theme Cole had inaugurated, some rendering of families helping the poor, with many allusions to winter and hunger.

The concept came to the United States in the 1850s, but like the earlier adaptation of the Christmas Tree, Americans made it their own notion. R.H. Pease, a printer and general store owner in Albany, NY, sold the first commercial American Christmas Card in the early 1850s, but instead of depictions of poverty and charity, he used more joyful symbols, such as Christmas foods, St. Nick, or religious symbols. The American Christmas Card was born. Before long printers throughout the nation made it a regular of their businesses to produce Christmas Cards for sale, and by the 1890s the sending of cards became a standard part of the Christmas season.

Christmas Trees are an icon, and Christmas Cards are an established tradition, but the custom that perhaps makes Christmas most unique is the giving of gifts. The presentation of gifts had long been associated with the Christmas season, as many predominantly Christian nations incorporated the biblical story of the Magi bearing gifts for the infant Christ as part of a tradition of giving presents at the celebration of Jesus’ birth. Over time, and by the early 1800s in both Europe and early America, the tradition of gift giving had evolved into a two-fold function; one of the components of presents was to give them to close family members, and the other was the spirit of charity, and Christmas became a time when people who could donated to charity. Such an idea, particularly in America, was part of a larger transformation of Christian theology, a sort of collision of religion and capitalism. The growing American emphasis on the centrality of the individual, which is what spawned revolutionary thought in America, also had an impact on Protestant doctrine. Within mostly Protestant congregations there grew the idea that affluence was a result of God’s grace, and thus the righteous should repay such a manna with contributions to those less fortunate. The result was that one’s gifts to charity during the holiday should almost coincide with one’s fortune during the year.

Related to the element of growth in affluence and gift-giving, came the change in personal gifting. Merchants in the 1840s and 1850s began to form and shape their inventories around the Christmas season, knowing that such a boost in sales could help what at one time was a relatively slow season. Retailers began to use any means necessary to influence the concept of presents. There was resistance in the earliest years, as many consumers acquainted such blatant commercialization of a holiday as crass, but merchants persisted, and also began to advertise and stress the importance of adornment to represent the season through spreading the idea that Christmas gifts were special and should be “wrapped” in special celebratory paper suitable for presentation. Slowly, the idea began to gain traction, and as it became more entrenched in the late 1800s the idea of Christmas gifts entwined with the greatly increased American movement toward outward manifestations of affluence. The gifts that one could present to family members became a symbol of one’s affluence, an outward symbol of one’s good fortune. Merchants also capitalized in these ideas, and used advertising and symbolism to entice purchasers. The result became one of the most entrenched ideas of the American holiday landscape: The Christmas shopping season. However, at the same time the concept of charity changed along with a growing new perception of the poor. Social Darwinism and other concepts of rugged individualism gave rise to notions that very often those in poverty were not in such a condition by chance but rather because of poor personal habits and choices. The growth of these new ideas changed the concepts of charity, and one of those was that charity was a personal choice, one that could be “separated” from gifts to family and loved ones. Thus, the presentation of personal gifts grew, while the idea of the season as a time of charity lessened in importance.

Next week: Part 3: The Rise of Santa

The East Texas Historical Association provides this column as a public service. Scott Sosebee is a Professor of History at Stephen F. Austin State University and the Executive Director of the Association. He can be contacted at sosebeem@sfasu.edu or via www.easttexashistorical.org.