Christmas
What to write in a Christmas card for your family
For a Christmas card to your family, write two or three sentences and include the thing this family does that no other family does. Keep the greeting simple, say why that detail matters, and close in your natural voice. Below are 9 examples you can copy directly or personalize.
Updated
Christmas Quest
how it opens
A card is a constrained format: a fixed amount of space, read once in front of other people and then possibly kept for years. That constraint is what makes it hard.
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.
9 Christmas messages for your family
- Card
Your door has always been open to us, and we notice. Merry Christmas to the whole house.
- Card
We loved hearing about the new baby, the new job and the new dog. What a year for you all.
- Card
Sending love to every one of you, and extra to whoever is cooking.
- Card
Merry Christmas from all of us. Our house is quieter than yours, but we will be thinking of the noise.
- Card
This year had its share of hard days, and we thought of you on every one. Wishing you a gentle Christmas.
- Card
Watching your children grow up this year has been a joy. Merry Christmas to every one of you.
- Card
We hope the new year brings you everything it owes you. Warmest Christmas wishes.
- Card
Thank you for the evening you opened your house to us. We have not stopped talking about it. Merry Christmas.
- Card
May the year ahead be kinder to your family than this one was. We are rooting for you all.
What actually works in a Christmas message to your family
The most common failure is spending the opening line on the occasion itself, which everyone can already see printed on the front of the card.
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 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
Start with the detail, not the greeting. The greeting is already done for you.
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.
If they have had a hard year, writing around it is more conspicuous than acknowledging it.
The Christmas world is built for exactly this. Free to build and preview; you only pay when you share it.
Other messages for your family
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When a Christmas message is not quite enough for your family
Start with the detail, not the greeting. The greeting is already done for you.