I am sorry this post is so late, but I’ve been buried under a mountain of season’s greetings cards (kartki świąteczne, most of which still need to be written) and it took me some to dig myself out.

And speaking of Christmas cards, Mary K. suggested that I should write something about them. Her suggestion is of course very timely, and I was planning a post about it anyway. But, for some reason, when it comes to Christmas cards, I am a master at practicing avoidance.

I suppose it’s genetic in our family. My mother was very nonchalant about the whole thing. Whether our Christmas cards got written and mailed out or not, it was of absolutely no significance to her. Initially, when I got to be old enough I tried to takeover that responsibility, but then very quickly got bored and gave up. The only person who seemed to care was our dad, and he was outvoted and outnumbered.

So you can imagine that I am totally the wrong person to ask about this whole Christmas card writing and mailing etiquette (though this year, I must say, I am really trying).

But yeah, what do we say on those cards? In English it’s simple, nothing declines, you just stick a “dear whoever” on the top, or not, depending on who you’re sending it to, and that’s more or less it.

Surprisingly, in Polish it’s also simple, at least the way I do it.

If you’re writing to a close family member, you can write something like:

Kochana Ciociu Aniu (Dear Aunt Ania, and yes, the name should decline),
Wesołych Świąt Bożego Narodzenia i Szczęśliwego Nowego Roku życzy (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from) and your name here.

Though if you are sending it a whole family or people you are not so close to, then you can get away with using no header at all, simply write the Wesołych Świąt bit and that’s all. Personally, I really don’t like it, but it seems that about 90% of cards I get from Poles in Poland are written that way. And you don’t need to capitalize every word, but I do it, because it looks fancier that way. Ha!

Of course, different families might have their own different traditions, but generally, I EVERY Polish person I know (except me and my immediate family) is VERY serious about sending Christmas greetings.

And now, if you excuse me, I still have 57 cards to write (pięćdziesiąt siedem kartek do napisania)…