Christmas Special
Writing Christmas Cards in English [medium]
The
festive season is coming our way again and here at LbT-languages
we have prepared some tips about how to write good Christmas cards
in English to your clients and friends, which we are sure you
will find helpful. But first, let us wish all of you and your
families:
Merry Xmas!
The most important days during the festive season are:
Christmas Eve: 24th of December
Christmas Day: 1st day of Christmas
Boxing Day: 2nd day of Christmas
New Year's Eve: evening of 31 December (in Scotland: Hogmanay)
And here are some definitions you will find helpful:
Merry = happy, joyous
X’ derives from the Greek and stands for ‘Christ’
XMAS = Christmas
It is generally expected that Christmas wishes are sent to your
business contacts and also to your friends and acquaintances.
The festive season can
be a good opportunity also to
renew contacts with associates you have not heard from
in a while. So, when should you start sending your Christmas greetings
to your business and private contacts in the Anglophone world?
Generally, your written Christmas greetings (i.e. if they are
sent by post rather than email) should reach the recipient no
later than December 20th. It is customary
to make up a Christmas card list early in December, and sending
your cards out soon enough gives the recipients time to add you to their own lists and send their cards to you in time, in case you had not been on their lists originally.
Vocabulary
Acquaintances – people
you know, but not well enough to call them friends
Festive – of celebratory
character
Renew – to start
again
Customary – habitually
/ usually done
Recipients – people
who receive / those who get something that is being sent
These are some important English phrases that are commonly
used for
Christmas and New Year’s, which you can use to sign your
cards:
General Christmas and New Years Greetings
· Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year
· Hope you have a very merry Christmas and happy New Year
· Hope you will have a very merry Christmas and happy New
Year
· Wishing you a merry Christmas and good health in the
coming year
· Wishing you all a merry Christmas and good health in
the coming year
· ... and health and success in the New Year
· Thinking of you and wishing you a very happy holiday!
· May there be peace, hope and love in your world this
holiday season ... and always.
· Wishing you peace, hope and love to last throughout the
year.
· Have a lovely holiday and the happiest of new years!
Christmas and New Years Greetings for business letters
· Wishing you a merry Christmas & may we offer you
our best wishes for the New Year
· Wishing you the Christmas spirit all year long
· May the snow fall lightly and the sun shine brightly
on your Christmas holiday
· Wishing you a heavenly Christmas
· May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace and joy
· All good wishes for a happy holiday season and a prosperous
New Year
· Whishing you all things bright and beautiful at Christmas
and all year
· May your Christmas be blessed with peace and happiness
· Wishing you a most memorable Christmas
· May this New Year find you healthy and happy
· May your New Year be happy, healthy, and prosperous
· Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and
all things bright and beautiful
· May love, hope, and happiness be yours at New Year and
all through the year
· Wishing you the best of everything in the New Year
· May you have an abundance of good fortune in the new
Year
· With sincere wishes for a very Happy New Year
· Wishing you peace, joy and happiness all through the
New Year
· We look forward to doing business with you again in the
New Year and wish you all the best
· Wishing you a happy holiday season and a new year filled
with peace and prosperity.
· We hope you have a nice Christmas and wish you all the
best in the New Year
· May we wish you and your staff a merry Christmas and
a prosperous New Year
· We wish you all a merry Christmas and good health in
the coming year
Short Christmas Greetings
· Merry Christmas!
· Happy Christmas!
· Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
· Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
· Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year!
· Wishing you and your colleagues a Merry Christmas and
a Happy New Year!
· Wishing you and your staff a Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year!
In cases where the sender
may not know the religious affiliation
of the recipient of their card, it is important to offer generic
good wishes. This is especially true for holiday cards sent to
businesses:
· Happy Holidays!
· Season's Greetings!
· Celebrate the Season!
· Peace!
· Peace on Earth!
· Joy to the World!
· Joy and Happiness!
In cases where - when
religious affiliation –
the religion a person follows
generic – universal,
general, not specific to a particular group
Famous Christmas & New Year Quotations:
At Christmas I no more desire a rose
Than wish snow in May’s newfangled
mirth;
But like of each thing that in season
grows.
-William Shakespeare
At Christmas play and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year.
-Thomas Tresser
I will honor Christmas in my heart, and
Try to keep it all the year.
-Charles Dickens
A good conscience is a continual Christmas.
- Benjamin Franklin
Praising what is lost
Makes the remembrance dear.
- William Shakespeare
Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar,
Took his last drink and swore his last oath.
Today we are a pious and exemplary community.
Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our
Reformation to the winds and gone to
Cutting our ancient shortcomings
Considerably shorter than ever.
- Mark Twain
How to sign your name on a printed Christmas card
· from Barbara
· Yours, Peter (Deine/Ihre/Dein/Ihr)
· Love from Nicole and Peter (Alles Liebe von...)
· With love from Charles and Jennifer (Alles Liebe von...)
Zurück zu: Newsletter Dezember 2005
