9th December: Christmas Card Day

It's Christmas Card Day - something likely to be on most of our minds right now as we decide whether to send any and if so, who to, and if we are sending them, the need to get on with it! 

Henry Cole is recognised as having created the first Christmas Card in 1843. Some sources say that he did so because he had left it too late to send the usual Christmas letter - but others say he was a lot more organised than that and had had them commissioned back in May, because he saw a business opportunity! Here are 10 things you may not know about Christmas cards:

1. The picture on Henry Cole's first card showed three generations of a family raising a toast to the card's recipient (apparently controversial at the time for promoting booze) and on either side were scenes of charity, with food and clothing being given to the poor.
2. Two batches totalling 2,050 cards were printed that year and sold for a shilling each.
3. Early English Christmas cards rarely showed winter or religious themes. Instead the Victorians tended to go for flowers, Fairies and other fanciful designs to remind the recipient that spring was coming. Humorous and sentimental images of children and animals were popular, as were increasingly elaborate shapes, decorations and materials.
4. The first "Official" Christmas cards were sent by Queen Victoria.
5. In the UK, Christmas cards account for almost half of the volume of greeting card sales.
6. Queen Mary, wife of King George V, was a collector of Christmas cards. Her collection is now in the British Museum.
7. People always complain about the cost of Christmas cards, but in 2001, one was sold at auction for a record breaking £22,250. The card in question was one of Henry Cole's, produced in 1843.
8. The smallest Christmas card ever was made by scientists at the University of Glasgow. At only 200 x 290 micrometres in size, 8,276 of these cards would fit on one Postage stamp. It consisted of a picture of a Christmas tree etched onto a tiny piece of glass.
9. In 2004, the German post office gave away 20 million free scented stickers, to make Christmas cards smell of a fir Christmas Tree, cinnamon, Gingerbread, a honey-wax candle, a baked Apple and an Orange.
10. The U.K. conservation charity Woodland Trust has been running an annual campaign to collect and recycle Christmas cards for the last twelve years. All recycled cards help raise money to plant more trees. In that time, more than 600 million cards have been recycled. This has enabled the Woodland Trust to plant more than 141,000 trees and save over 12,000 tonnes of Paper from landfill.

My Christmas Novella!

A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

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