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Christmas

Christmas messages for your nephew: 4 to write or borrow

A christmas message for your nephew should name one real detail, not offer a general wish. Start with something he is into that the adults find baffling and say why it matters. You can send the 4 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 nephew is at the age where Christmas is still genuinely thrilling, and an aunt or uncle gets to enjoy that without being responsible for any of the logistics.

Boys tend to receive praise for achievement and very little for character, and an uncle or aunt is well placed to correct the balance because nothing is at stake in the observation.

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.

4 christmas messages for your nephew

  1. Warm
    Merry Christmas to the only person who still gets genuinely excited about Christmas morning.
  2. Playful
    Happy Christmas. Whatever I got you, act surprised.
  3. Short
    Merry Christmas, mate. See you soon.
  4. Warm
    Good year for you. Merry Christmas.

What actually works in a Christmas message to your nephew

The card is competing with a room full of wrapping paper. Something specific about him is the only thing that will survive the morning.

The register can stay light. The content should not be.

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 nephew

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 nephew

Something he is into that the adults find baffling 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 nephew will recognize it immediately, which is the entire point.

  • Something he is into that the adults find baffling
  • A moment he was kind when nobody required it
  • A skill he is developing that nobody has named yet
  • How he is with younger cousins or siblings
  • Something he stuck at when it got difficult
  • The way he makes people laugh
  • A way he has grown up since last year
  • An opinion of his that surprised you

What goes wrong when people write to nephews

  • Only mentioning sport or school

    The easiest material and the most replaceable. Character observations are what he is unlikely to get elsewhere.

  • Making the joke the entire card

    Fine as a wrapper. One sincere sentence inside it is what he will remember.

  • Talking down to him

    Pitch it slightly older than his age and he will rise to it.

Common questions

What is the best christmas message for your nephew?
Pick one real detail - something he is into that the adults find baffling - and build two or three sentences around it. Boys tend to receive praise for achievement and very little for character, and an uncle or aunt is well placed to correct the balance because nothing is at stake in the observation, which is why a message that could only have been written to your nephew outperforms a longer, more polished one that could go to anyone.
What should you not write to your nephew?
Avoid only mentioning sport or school. The easiest material and the most replaceable. Character observations are what he is unlikely to get elsewhere.
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 a moment he was kind when nobody required it. 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 nephew

Adults stop being excited about Christmas and it is nice to notice somebody who has not.

BloomQuest takes the same raw material this page has been asking you for - something he is into that the adults find baffling, the thing you would never say out loud - and turns it into a small private world your nephew 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 nephew

When a Christmas message is not quite enough for your nephew

Adults stop being excited about Christmas and it is nice to notice somebody who has not.

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