Antique Floral Christmas Cards

In our collection of vintage Christmas cards, we have quite a few that feature flowers.  While cards featuring Christmas angels, children in the snow, nativity scenes, holly wreaths, and of course Santa Claus fit our traditional ideas of Christmas, these antique flower cards are sweet for something different.  We think these floral Christmas cards are lovely and quaint -- they certainly reflect the "shabby" romantic spirit that so many of our customers like!

You'll find them, btw, in our Victorian Holidays collection on CD -- and also with holiday greetings removed in our Victorian Flowers collection, to use as flower pictures in your scrapbooking, card making and art.

ABOUT CHRISTMAS CARDS:  The custom of sending Christmas cards began in Victorian London in about 1840, and in 1875 Boston lithographer Louis Prang began publishing Christmas cards in America. The earliest cards usually featured colorful flower blossoms or pictures of birds, children or angels.

Floral Christmas cards were part of the Victorians' (and Victorian-era Americans') love for flowers, and  the early, expensive cards were probably sent mostly by wealthy people.
 
As sending holiday greetings became popular, it was inexpensive holiday penny postcards, sometimes imported from Germany, that were sent by most Americans until WWI.  Christmas postcards were also popular in many European countries, and we find many in French and German as well as English.  Judging by the number of Happy New Year postcards we have come across over the years, sending New Year greetings was just as popular!