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Christmas

Christmas messages for your family: 6 to write or borrow

A christmas message for your family should name one real detail, not offer a general wish. Start with the thing this family does that no other family does and say why it matters. You can send the 6 examples below as written, but replacing one detail with your own memory will make it personal.

Updated

The opening screen of a Christmas Quest, a lit snow globe on a midnight blue background

Christmas Quest

how it opens

A card to a whole household is read aloud, propped on a mantelpiece and seen by people it was not written for, which changes what belongs in it.

A message to a whole family has to work for several people at once, which is why most of them end up saying nothing in particular.

Christmas messages are written in bulk, and everybody knows it. The reader can tell within one line whether they are receiving a message or a distribution.

6 christmas messages for your family

  1. Warm
    Wishing your whole house the loud, chaotic, excellent Christmas it usually manages. Merry Christmas.
  2. Warm
    Your family does Christmas better than anyone we know. Merry Christmas from all of us.
  3. Short
    Merry Christmas to every one of you.
  4. Short
    From our house to yours. Happy Christmas.
  5. Heartfelt
    This has been a hard year for your family and we have been thinking about you. Wishing you a gentle Christmas.
  6. Warm
    Whatever it is your family does at Christmas, it works. Merry Christmas.

What actually works in a Christmas message to your family

Listing every name and saying nothing is the standard failure. One observation about what this family is like as a unit does more.

One observation about the household beats a list of names.

Reference the year that has actually happened. A Christmas card that could have been sent in any of the last five years announces itself immediately.

Timing and etiquette for a Christmas message to your family

For people you only contact once a year, the card is the entire relationship that year. It is worth a real sentence.

A Christmas Quest hub on a midnight blue screen titled 'A Winter Night for Maya', with lights waking one by one

A Winter Night for Maya

christmas · winter light trail

Details only you would know about your family

The thing this family does that no other family does is usually the fastest way in. Swap one general phrase in any message above for one of these and the borrowed line becomes yours - your family will recognize it immediately, which is the entire point.

  • The thing this family does that no other family does
  • How they handle a crisis as a unit
  • What their house is like when everyone is in it
  • A tradition they have kept going
  • Something they have got through together
  • How they treat visitors
  • The noise level, the food, the specific texture of the household
  • What the family has been like this particular year

What goes wrong when people write to families

  • Listing everyone by name and saying nothing

    A roll call is not a message. One observation about the whole is better than five empty clauses.

  • Ignoring what kind of year it has been

    Families notice when a message pretends a hard year did not happen.

  • Pure formality

    "Wishing you all the best" is a greeting, not a message.

Common questions

What is the best christmas message for your family?
Pick one real detail - the thing this family does that no other family does - and build two or three sentences around it. A message to a whole family has to work for several people at once, which is why most of them end up saying nothing in particular, which is why a message that could only have been written to your family outperforms a longer, more polished one that could go to anyone.
What should you not write to your family?
Avoid listing everyone by name and saying nothing. A roll call is not a message. One observation about the whole is better than five empty clauses.
How long should a christmas message be?
Two to four sentences, with at least one referring to something that actually happened this year. Seasonal wishes can close it, not carry it.
How do you make a christmas message sound personal rather than copied?
Change one detail to something only you would know. Take any message here and replace its general noun with how they handle a crisis as a unit. That single substitution is what separates a message that sounds borrowed from one that sounds like you wrote it.

When a Christmas message is not quite enough for your family

If they have had a hard year, writing around it is more conspicuous than acknowledging it.

BloomQuest takes the same raw material this page has been asking you for - the thing this family does that no other family does, the thing you would never say out loud - and turns it into a small private world your family opens from one link. Your words, their memories, and a finale you write yourself.

The Christmas world is built for exactly this. Free to build and preview; you only pay when you share it.

More christmas messages

All christmas messages · Everything for your family

When a Christmas message is not quite enough for your family

If they have had a hard year, writing around it is more conspicuous than acknowledging it.

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