The Christmas card: A tradition that has remained, surprisingly, impervious to obsolescence in the era of nonstop, superfluous mass communication.

What is it about sending and receiving them? Why, when nearly all other means of communications have changed, has the Christmas card maintained its importance?

“I think it feels good, when you write a note or express your thoughts in a card … It’s a lot better than a text,” said John McNiven, owner of seven Scott's Hallmark Shops in the Capital Region.

“They [Christmas cards] are one of the essential elements to the experience of Christmas — they are a part of our tradition. Busy or not … people continue to make time for them,” said Peter Doherty, executive director of the Greeting Card Association, a trade group.

“For me and my wife, it’s a part of us that we can share with family, and some friends,” said Roy Saplin, an Altamont resident. Saplin sends calendars instead of cards.

The origin of the Christmas card belies its now-personal charm, according to an article written by John Hanc for Smithsonian Magazine, whose research informs this article.

It begins in priggish and proper Victorian England, when Henry Cole had a problem: He was a member of polite society, but did not want to engage in the arduous task of responding to letters that he had received from friends and family.

So, what Cole did was invent the emoji of its day — the Victorian-era equivalent of a “thumbs-up.”

To go back further, in 1840, British Parliament passed the Penny Postage Act. This allowed anyone to send a letter anywhere in the county for a single penny.

By 1843, Cole, who was a bit of a 19th-Century celebrity, was inundated with letters, wishing him well that holiday season.

Not wanting to be impolite, but moreso, not wanting to have to respond to all of these letters, Cole thought and was struck with a flash of brilliance. He reached out to an artist friend and asked him to design what would become, the world’s first Christmas card. He then took the design to a printer in London and had 1,000 copies made.

The card showed a family celebrating the holiday, with a very impersonal “To” along the top of the card, and “From” along the bottom.

The card caused a minor stir among the well-to-do. The image shows children to be drinking, what appears to be, wine — big no-no at the time, because Great Britain was in the throes of a temperance movement and it was thought that Cole was encouraging underage-drinking.

But the card was just too much of a time-saver for people to worry about the picture and perceived message.

The modern-American Christmas-card industry began in Kansas City in 1915, when the Hall brothers re-discovered that cards are just a tad too impersonal. So they created a new card: 4 inches wide by 6 inches high, folded once, and stuffed into an envelope. Today the Hall brothers’ company is known as Hallmark.

Today’s Christmas-card market seems to be able to capitalize on built-in nostalgia.

“We’re seeing a new group come into the marketplace — millennials. They are the largest-single group purchasing greeting cards; they are actually purchasing a larger number of greeting cards than baby boomers,” said Doherty.

“Our customer base is a little more mature — although we get a lot of younger people coming in now, too,” said McNiven. He said of sending cards: “Their parents did it; their grandparents did it; they’re doing it.”

Millennials are looking for a way to share their thoughts with special people in their lives in a way that is tangible — something that is more lasting than texting or emails.

“They realize that a text is great, a Facebook post is fantastic, but you blink your eyes and then it’s gone … Greeting cards seem to be one thing that they are gravitating towards,” Doherty said.

It’s real and lasting, and helps you to connect so much better than anything electronic would, he says.

Doherty says his group’s most recent data show 1.6 billion Christmas cards — which includes boxed cards — are purchased every year; approximately 6.5 billion cards for all occasions are sold every year.

As retail sales hum along, there are also people who like the added personal touch of a handmade card.

“I’ve been doing this for 18 years, typically at the holiday season,” said Susan Webster, of Pumpkin Hill Stampers, an independent “Stampin’ Up” demonstrator, who teaches people how to make their own cards. “My customers who make cards, make many more,” she said of Christmas time.

“A handmade gift is more memorable,” she says.

Anybody can go to the store and buy a card, Webster says. Those who make their own cards have pride in giving something that they have created — and it’s appreciated and it’s a keepsake, she says. “It’s a piece of art they can keep.”

“A lot of people request them and save them — some even frame them,” John Williams, an artist who writes the Old Men of the Mountain column for The Enterprise, said of the Christmas cards that he paints himself and has printed.

“We’re sharing what we’ve done through the year,” says Saplin of his calendars, which are illustrated with photographs he has taken.

“To me, the most interesting thing is, they keep them — from year-to-year … Not for the pictures, but because they use the calendar as a record of what they’ve done. That’s kind of an interesting way to do history,” he says.

“I send, nearly, 150 cards every year,” Webster said

“Now, I have people who are like, ‘Where’s my card?’ They like getting that handcrafted, unique card — even if I make 10 of the same card, theirs is different a little bit, and I took the time to make it,” she said.