One typical card has a doleful penguin standing in a snow-storm with a sprig of holly on its head. Snow is at the forefront of these surreal experiences. But 'typical Christmas weather', says the Met Office is 'grey, damp, windy and mild'. In the last 100 years Manchester and London have only had lying snow on four Christmasses. The cards we exchange give a very different picture.
Religion is secondary to our fascination with nature in deep mid-winter.
Climate historians say big weather events do impact on cultural symbolism, so perhaps our grandchildren will exchange cards of floods. Yet with global warming and species extinction, these symbols are increasingly bizarre. The North Pole, home to Santa, is used to symbolise purity, a white wilderness 'up there' near to heaven, and we like to imagine its creatures celebrating Christmas just like ourselves. In reality though we are totally cavalier about the pollution which is destroying this last remaining wilderness. The Arctic more than anywhere else is showing the strains of human activity.