The sending of greeting cards at Christmas began in the Victorian era. Though wood engravers produced prints with religious themes in the European Middle Ages, the first commercial Christmas and New Year's card is believed to have been designed and printed in London, England in 1843, the same year that Charles Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol".

Caught in the middle of the holiday rush, London business man, Henry Cole, was unable to send the traditional written Christmas message to his friends and associates so he sent them illustrated holiday greetings. The card, which was designed by an artist friend, John Calcott Horsley, was divided into three panels. The main illustration showed the three elders at a family -party raising wine glasses in a toast; the side panels showed two Yuletide traditions- feeding the hungry and clothing the needy. The message inside is still almost 150 years later, the most popular greeting of all: " A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You."

The early 20th century saw Americans decorating their trees mainly with homemade ornaments, while the German-American sect continued to use apples, nuts, and marzipan cookies. Popcorn joined in after being dyed bright colors and interlaced with berries and nuts. Electricity brought about Christmas lights, making it possible for Christmas trees to glow for days on end. With this, Christmas trees began to appear in town squares across the country and having a Christmas tree in the home became an American tradition.

By the 1890s Christmas ornaments were arriving from Germany and Christmas tree popularity was on the rise around the U.S. It was noted that Europeans used small trees about four feet in height, while Americans liked their Christmas trees to reach from floor to ceiling.

During the cold December darkness of Eastern Europe, people gathered wreaths of evergreen and lighted fires as signs of hope in a coming spring and renewed light. By the 16th century Catholics and Protestants throughout Germany used these symbols to celebrate their Advent hope in Christ, the everlasting Light.

The Frenchman, Charles duc d'Orleans, sent love poems to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London on February 14, 1415. These may have been the first written valentines, and, as the idea caught on, such notes were accompanied by chocolate and other sweets.

The 17th century diarist, Samuel Pepys, recorded that lovers exchanged mementos like gloves, rings and sweetmeats on St. Valentine's Day. Shakespeare suggested "Sweets to the Sweet", in Hamlet.

In America, the pilgrims sent confections, such as sugar wafers, marzipan, sweetmeats and sugar plums, to their betrothed. Great value was placed on these gifts because they included what was then a rare commodity, sugar. After the late 1800's, beet sugar became widely used and more available, and sweet gifts continued to be valued and enjoyed.

In the middle of the 16th century, the people at the local market sold gifts, food and also more practical items such as knife grinders to sharpen the knife to carve the Christmas Goose. At these fairs, bakers sold gingerbreads and wax ornaments for souvenirs to take home for use to decorate their Christmas Tree.

Perhaps the best known Christmas carol is Silent Night, written in 1818 by an Austrian assistant priest Joseph Mohr. He was told the day before Christmas that the church organ was broken and would not be repaired in time for Christmas Day. Saddened, he sat down to write three stanzas that could be sung by choir to guitar music. "Silent Night, Holy Night" was heard for the first time at that Midnight Mass in St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf.

There was a tradition in Europe that if a dove flew around a house where someone was dying then their soul would be at peace. And there are legends which say that the devil can turn himself into any bird except for a dove. In Christian art, the dove was used to symbolize the Holy Ghost and was often painted above Christ's head.

The dove has been a symbol of peace and innocence for thousands of years in many different cultures. In ancient Greek mythology it was a symbol of love and the renewal of life. In ancient Japan a dove carrying a sword symbolized the end of war.