Prepare yourself for a trip into Crazytown. The invention of the Christmas card in 1843 and the introduction of cheap postal rates in nineteenth-century England led to a wild proliferation of designs and motifs in greeting cards. Many of these are downright wacky. They bear no relation to Christmas and certainly not Christmas joy but here are a few examples of what I mean. I can offer no explanation, only gratitude that these themes did not continue.
