Happy Christmas and New Year Wishes: 46 Lines for One Card

One card often has to carry two wishes. You may be writing in the last days before Christmas, knowing the card will be read after it; you may only send one card a year to an old friend; or you may simply like the old habit of wishing both at once. The messages below each cover Christmas and the year ahead in a single breath, grouped by who you’re writing to. They were all written for this page, so you can use them as they are.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year messages

Warm wishes that work for nearly anyone.

Merry Christmas, and may the year that follows it be every bit as kind.
Wishing you a Christmas of full plates and a New Year of full days, with good people around you for both.
Peace at Christmas, courage for January and a little luck for every month after that.
May the lights you hang this December keep shining well into the year ahead.
Here’s to a cozy Christmas (or a cosy one, if you’re reading this in Dublin) and a bright, uncomplicated New Year.
Merry Christmas. We hope the year ahead brings you the good news you’ve been waiting for.
From the first carol to the last firework, we’re thinking of you. Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year.
May you rest well at Christmas and wake up to a New Year full of possibility.
Here’s to the holidays, and to all the ordinary Tuesdays of the year to come.
Christmas comes once a year, and so does this card. Both arrive with the same wish: that you’re well and happy.

Christmas and New Year wishes for family

For the people whose names are already on the gift tags.

To the whole family: thank you for a year of noise, food and forgiveness. Merry Christmas, and here’s to another one.
Dear Mom and Dad, may your Christmas be restful and your New Year bring you both the trips you keep talking about.
Happy Christmas to my sister and her crew. Let’s start the new year with that visit we keep postponing.
Merry Christmas to our grandchildren, and a New Year full of learning to ride bikes, tie laces and stay up till nine.
To my brother, who carved the turkey badly and told the best stories: Merry Christmas, and come back in the spring.
May the family table be crowded at Christmas and the family group chat be cheerful all year.
We’re counting the days until Christmas and the weeks until we see you after it. Love and best wishes for the New Year.
Wishing our dear aunt a gentle Christmas by the fire and a New Year of good health and plenty of visitors.

Christmas and New Year wishes for friends

For friends close by and friends you only hear from once a year.

Merry Christmas, my friend. Let’s not wait for next December to catch up properly.
One card, two wishes, a whole year of friendship behind them. Happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
Here’s to mulled wine in December and long walks in January. I’m in for both if you are.
Thank you for another year of being the friend I can call at any hour. Merry Christmas, and see you in the new year.
Christmas cheer now, and a promise for later: this year, the reunion actually happens.
To the friend I’ve known since the school bus: this one’s for you, with love for Christmas and for the year after it.
May your Christmas be merry and your New Year’s resolutions be easy to keep, or easy to forget.

Short Christmas and New Year wishes

For a gift tag, a postscript or the line under your name.

Merry Christmas and all good things to come.
Joy now, luck later.
Happy Christmas and a gentle New Year.
Warm wishes for both.
To Christmas, and the year beyond.
Merry Christmas, and onward.

For a card that will arrive after Christmas

When you know the post, or the calendar, is against you.

This card is late for Christmas and early for the New Year, which we’ve decided makes it right on time.
We missed Christmas, but we didn’t miss you. Wishing you a very happy New Year and the rest of the holidays in peace.
The tree may be down by the time you read this. The wishes still stand: a happy end to the holidays and a wonderful year.
Still in the twelve days of Christmas, so still allowed to say it: Merry Christmas, and a very happy New Year.
Forgive the late card. The love behind it was ready weeks ago.

Religious Christmas and New Year wishes

For a card to someone who keeps the faith at the center of the season.

May the peace of the Christ Child stay with you through Christmas and into every day of the New Year.
Wishing you a blessed Christmas and a New Year lived in God’s care.
As we celebrate His birth, we pray for your health, your family and a year of grace.
May the light of Bethlehem guide your steps through the year ahead. A holy Christmas to you all.

For colleagues, clients and neighbors

Friendly and brief, without being stiff.

Warm wishes for the holidays and a successful New Year. It has been good working with you.
Merry Christmas from all of us, and thank you for your business and your patience this year.
Season’s Greetings, and best wishes for a peaceful New Year to you and your family.
Happy Christmas to our neighbors. You lent us the ladder, fed the cat in August and never once mentioned our hedge. Here’s to another year over the fence.
Wishing you a relaxing break and a calm start to January. Back to it after the holidays, rested and ready.
You made the hard weeks of this year much easier. Here’s hoping January is calmer.

Make it personal

Use the card’s own greeting for Christmas, and your message for the New Year. On a Paper Lantern Christmas card, the greeting line at the top says Merry Christmas, Happy Christmas or Season’s Greetings, or the card’s greeting in the language of home. The New Year part belongs in your own words underneath.

Give each wish one detail. “Merry Christmas” plus one memory of this year, “Happy New Year” plus one plan for the next. That is enough to make a short message feel written for one person.

Say when you’ll be in touch. A line like “I’ll call on New Year’s Day” turns a card into a small promise.

If the New Year card is all you need, our page of New Year wishes on their own has many more for the days after Christmas. For Christmas wishes to every kind of recipient, browse our complete book of card messages, and for the timing of cards sent by post or online, see when cards should arrive.

Questions

Is it “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” or “and Happy New Year”?

Both are correct. “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” is the traditional form, the one in the old carol; “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” is shorter and very common on cards. Use whichever sounds like you.

Is it all right to send one card for both holidays?

Yes. Many people send a single card in December that covers both, and it’s the obvious choice for anyone who will read it between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

When is it too late to say Merry Christmas?

Traditionally, Christmas lasts twelve days, until January 5, so a “Merry Christmas” written in the days after the 25th is still in season. After that, a New Year message is the safer choice.

Cards for both wishes

A Christmas card can carry both greetings: the greeting on the card, and your New Year wishes in the message. The Christmas Cottage is a thatched stone cottage at twilight with a candlelit tree in the garden, one of our cosy classics. If the card will arrive after the 25th, our New Year cards open on a village at midnight, with fireworks far off over the hills.