THEY may be falling out of favour in the immediacy of the social media age – but Royal Mail reckons that it will still have delivered 150 million Christmas cards to UK homes this year.

That’s a far cry from the billion of several years ago, but research shows that two out of three of us prefer to receive a printed card rather than a seasonal social media post or email.

And it’s estimated that each person in the UK still sends and receives around 17 cards. No, not enough to fill the house with festive cheer, but enough perhaps to blu-tack on a door.

The tradition started here in the UK – and thanks to my namesake, Henry Cole. I have no idea if we are related in any shape or form but it’d be nice to imagine so at Christmas.

Henry, founding director of London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, sent the first Christmas card in 1843. That’s it at the top of this post with all its festive feasting, wining and dining.

So it’s fitting that the V&A is home to the national collection of greetings cards, with more than 30,000 examples deemed of interest – and more than half of them celebrating Christmas.

Henry Cole (1808 – 1882) was a prominent civil servant, educator and inventor. In the 1840s, he was instrumental in reforming the British postal system.

He helped to set up the Uniform Penny Post which encouraged the sending of seasonal greetings on decorated letterheads and visiting cards – but realised more was needed.

Christmas was a busy time in the Cole household and with unanswered mail piling up, a time-saving solution was needed. Henry turned to artist John Callcott Horsley to illustrate his idea.

The result was that first Christmas card, which shows three generations of the Cole family raising a toast.

Henry commissioned a printer to transfer the design onto cards, printing 1,000 copies that could be personalised with a hand-written greeting. They were offered for sale at a shilling a time.

That was expensive at the time, and the venture was judged a commercial flop – but rapidly regained favour thanks to Charles Dickens’ Christmas stories, and Prince Albert’s love of the season.

You can see some of the Christmas cards in the V&A collection by using the museum’s excellent Explore The Collections link. Here’s a great video from the V&A tracing the beginnings of our love affair.

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, have a great Christmas and a happy and healthy New Year. And, of course, thank you for visiting paulcoletravels.com over the past 12 months.