What to write in a Christmas card
Most Christmas cards say the same four words. The ones people keep say one true thing about the year. Below are messages you can copy as they are, sorted by who the card is for, and a short way to write your own.
For Mom and Dad
- Merry Christmas. Everything we know about making a home, we learned in yours.
- The house is louder when we are all in it. Thank you for still wanting that.
- We are coming home for the food and staying for you.
- You made Christmas feel like magic when we were small. We know now how much work that was.
- Thank you for the year: every call you picked up and every time you did not say “I told you so”.
- Same table, more chairs. Merry Christmas from all of us.
- We got you something small. You gave us everything else.
- Merry Christmas to the two people who taught us how to do this.
- This year we are bringing dessert. Please act surprised.
- However far we live, Christmas is wherever you two are.
For grandparents
- Merry Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa. We are saving you the good seats.
- The children ask every week how many days until they see you.
- Thank you for every story you told twice. We were listening both times.
- Your house is where Christmas lives in our heads.
- We made the cookies your way. They were nearly right.
- Every one of us is who we are a little bit because of you.
- With love from every grandchild, from the tallest to the smallest.
- We hope this year brings you slow mornings and a full table.
- Merry Christmas from the whole noisy lot of us.
- You are the reason this family knows how to celebrate.
For a grown son or daughter
- Merry Christmas. Watching you build your own life is the best thing we have ever seen.
- Your room is ready. So is the fridge.
- We are proud of you in December and in every other month.
- Come home when you can. Stay as long as you like. Bring laundry.
- You were the best present we ever got, and you still are.
- This year you did hard things. We noticed all of them.
- The tree has every ornament you ever made on it. All of them.
- Wherever you wake up on Christmas morning, we are thinking of you.
For family far away
- There is a chair with your name on it. We will hold it until next year.
- We miss you most at the noisy part of dinner.
- Sending this early so it gets to you before we do.
- Different time zone, same family. Merry Christmas.
- We will call when the kids open theirs. Pick up.
- The miles do not count at Christmas. We are with you.
- Next year, your place or ours. We are not asking.
- Open this, then look at your phone. There are photos coming.
For friends and neighbors
- Merry Christmas to the people who make this street feel like one.
- Thank you for a year of borrowed sugar and good advice.
- Wishing you a quiet house and a loud table.
- You made this year easier. We will not forget it.
- Here is to another year of not needing a reason to come over.
- Merry Christmas from our house to yours, with love and leftover pie.
- May your lights stay untangled and your guests leave on time.
- Friends like you are the part of the year we would keep.
For someone having a hard year
Skip “merry”. Say you are there.
- This Christmas will be different. We are here for all of it.
- No need to be cheerful with us. Come as you are.
- Thinking of you this season, and of the one who is missing from your table.
- We are not going to say it gets easier. We are going to bring dinner on Thursday.
- There is a place for you at ours, whether you stay ten minutes or all day.
- Wishing you a gentle Christmas and a kinder new year.
- You do not have to reply to this. We just wanted you to know.
- Holding you close this Christmas.
Short ones, for a small card
- Merry Christmas from every one of us.
- Love, all of us.
- Same tree, one more name.
- Home is wherever you are.
- With love, and too much food.
- Warm house, full table, you.
- See you at the table.
- Peace, pie and all our love.
How to write your own
- Start with their name, not “Dear all”.
- Name one real thing from this year: a visit, a meal, a phone call that helped.
- Say one thing you are looking forward to doing with them.
- Sign every name, in the order they would expect. Pets go last.
What to leave out
- A list of everything your family achieved this year, in a card to someone who had a bad one.
- “We must get together soon” with no date. Name the month.
- A printed signature. Sign it by hand, even if the rest is printed.