And All the Best for 2025!
Merry Fir Tree is probably not ideal. Every year I ask myself how to word my Christmas greetings. (I have been here before.) “Merry Christmas” is familiar in my culture, though I sometimes wonder how it sounds to people from other traditions. Christmas itself has little meaning for me now, but I keep the greeting out of habit. “Merry Xmas” or “Season’s Greetings” still sound to me like a lazy compromise to avoid the “C-word.” That is my own reaction, of course.
So my greeting card for Christmas 2024 looks very traditional again. 😊
Not that I need many greeting cards anymore. At one time, I received more than fifty Christmas cards a year—and probably sent even more. In 2024, as had been the case for some time, I received ONE “Merry Christmas” card. From my tax advisor. He is roughly my age and surely has more important things to do than think about Christmas cards.
Alternative
So as not to seem completely out of date, I designed another card for readers who have encountered Zen—or can at least appreciate the joke:
My unease with these verbal compromises comes from a dislike of language being pressed into political or ideological service. It reminds me of the German word Jahresendflügelfigur—literally a “year-end winged figure”—for a Christmas angel. The word is almost a greeting-card design in itself.
I once asked AI about its origin, but that answer was too confident. The word’s origin and alleged official GDR use remain uncertain. Bodo Mrozek’s investigation leaves the question open.
But there is nothing wrong with New Year’s wishes. So, to you and your loved ones:
Happy New Year 2025!
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