It's Christmas and along with making your final plans, baking cookies and shopping for gifts, don't forget to send love and good will to loved ones, coworkers, friends and everyone else in your life.
Whether you faithfully drop holiday cards in the mail each December or just send out text messages with festive quotes to those in your inner circle, finding the right words to express your heartfelt Christmas greetings can occasionally be a challenge.
The good news is that it doesn't have to be, especially since we've collected a list of Merry Christmas wishes, holiday sayings and sweet messages to let everyone on your list know that you're thinking of them this year.
To help express your feelings, we've got seasonal wishes that even Santa might be tempted to borrow, including Christmas greetings for friends, funny Christmas greetings, short messages, religious greetings and oh, so many more that are sure to make any and all spirits bright.
There are even a few that pay homage to some of your favorite Christmas songs, like "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Jingle Bells," while others come straight from the heart, with lines like: "True friendship isn't everything. It's the only thing."
Whichever you choose, one thing is for sure: Thanks to you, the recipient of your thoughtful Christmas greeting will remember exactly why it's the most wonderful time of the year.
Christmas greetings for friends
- Have a holly jolly Christmas!
- True friends, close in heart, will never be far apart. Happy holidays!
- In the Christmas cookie of life, you're the icing.
- Friends like you are the reason for the season.
- True friendship isn't everything. It's the only thing.
- May joy fill your cup with abundance this holiday season.
- There's snowbody better than you.
- Jingle all the way.
- Merry Friendsmas!
- Keep calm and Christmas on.
- Gifts are good, but friends are forever.
- Good friends make spirits bright. Best friends show up with them.
- Merry friends, Merry Christmas, Merry everything!
- May faithful friends gather near us once more.
- Me + You = Laughing all the way.
Merry Christmas greetings
- Your love is the greatest gift this Christmas.
- May the joy the season extend into the new year.
- Glad tidings to you and yours this holiday season.
- Though we're apart, you're in my heart this holiday season.
- Hope your Christmas is full of all your favorite things!
- May our love keep you warm this Christmas.
- It's people like you who make the season so merry and bright.
- Gifts are great and all, but what really matters is the love that surrounds you as you unwrap them.
- Warmest wishes for a Merry Christmas.
- All is calm, all is bright.
- Happy Christmas to you and yours.
- May this Christmas season fill your home with warmth, light and joy.
- Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours.
- Wishing you joy and peace this holiday season.
- Have a blessed holiday season.
- May your Christmas be filled with love and joy.
- You put the merry in my Christmas!
- Joy and blessings to you and your loved ones.
- Happy hugs to you this Christmas.
- Wishing you an old-fashioned Christmas holiday.
- Oh, what fun it is! Happy Holidays.
- Wishing you all the delights of the holiday season.
- It's not what's under the tree that matters most, it's who's around it.
- Family is the best gift of all. Happy holidays!
- More tinsel, more snow, more merry, more everything!
- Wishing you all the joy of the season from across the miles.
- Joyful moments and simple abundance to you and yours.
- Cherish the moments this holiday season.
- Wishing you health and happiness this Christmas.
- All I want for Christmas is for you to know how much I adore you!
Funny Christmas greetings
- 'Tis the season for Christmas cookies, twinkle lights and one too many glasses of eggnog!
- Have a be-yule-tiful Christmas.
- Who needs gifts under the tree when you have me? Kidding, obviously.
- Hope you like our elfie! Merry Christmas.
- Wishing you a “fahoo fores” Christmas!
- Bring us some figgy pudding ... and bring it right now!
- Meowy Christmas!
- Dachshund through the snow …
- Have a cool yule.
- It's the most wine-derful time of the year!
- Seasons eatings!
- I hope Santa treats you well this year!
- Feliz Navidog!
- I'm feeling extra Santa-mental this Christmas, so I want you to know how much you mean to me.
- Have your elf a merry little Christmas.
- Happy howldays!
- It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Supposedly.
- Wishing you a stress-free holiday. If you're successful, please share your tips.
- Are you sure you made Santa's nice list this year? I've heard otherwise...
- Here’s hoping Kris Kringle stops at your house first!
- Paw humbug!
Short (and sweet) Christmas greetings
- Peace, love and joy!
- May your holiday be filled with hot cocoa and candy canes.
- ‘Tis the season to be merry.
- Joy to the world.
- Sending Christmas love from the bright lights of the big city.
- May your Christmas be bright!
- Friends & family are what it’s all about. Happiest of holidays.
- Wishing you cozy slippers and sweaters this Christmas.
- Wishing you a truckload of cheer.
- Grateful. Thankful. Blessed.
- Mele Kalikimaka!
- Sweet holiday wishes to you and yours.
Religious Christmas greetings
- May God bless you and bring you a Happy New Year.
- Peace on earth, good will to men.
- Hark the herald angels sing!
- Faith, love and family.
- Come all ye faithful.
- The magic of Christmas is not in presents, but in His presence.
- O come let us adore Him.
- May God fill your heart with love and light this Christmas.
- Glory to God in the highest.
- Rejoice: A Savior is born.
- May you know the wonder of His love this Christmas and every day.
- For unto us a child is born.
- Joy to the world, the Lord is come.
Christmas greetings inspired by quotes
- “The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.” — Burton Hillis
- “Christmas magic is silent. You don’t hear it. You feel it. You know it. You remember it.” — Kevin Alan Milne, “The Paper Bag Christmas”
- “Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas.” — Peg Bracken
- “Christmas gives us the opportunity to pause and reflect on the important things around us.” — David Cameron
- “The spirit of the season never has to end as long as you keep your loved ones near, and the holiday wish in your heart.” — Jiminy Cricket, “Holiday Wishes”
- “Christmas is the season of joy, of holiday greetings, exchanged, of gift-giving, and of families united.” — Norman Vincent Peale
- “At Christmas, all roads lead home.” —Marjorie Holmes
- “Christmas isn’t a season. It’s a feeling.” — Edna Ferber
- "Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.” — Hamilton Wright Mabie
- “A perpetual holiday is a good working definition of hell.” — George Bernard Shaw
- “Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality.” —Washington Irving
- “Christmas is a together sort of holiday.” — Pooh, “Winnie the Pooh”
- “Some Christmas tree ornaments do more than glitter and glow, they represent a gift of love given a long time ago.” — Tom Baker
- “Christmas is a piece of one’s home that one carries in one’s heart.”— Freya Stark
More holiday cheer right here!
- The best Christmas getaways for a winter escape
- What to know about Hallmark's Christmas lineup
- How to get into the Christmas spirit as an adult
- Martha Stewart's holiday dos and don'ts
- Funny Christmas puns that'll sleigh all year long
Sarah Lemire
Sarah is a lifestyle and entertainment reporter for TODAY who covers holidays, celebrities and everything in between.
