The holiday season is a great time to dive into our hobbies and interests. This time is when families reunite, the weather is cold, and everything around enters a festive mindset. It’s also an important time for reflection and introspection.
The Christmas season is fun but can be emotionally challenging and even triggering for many. As such, it’s wise to keep our mental and emotional health in check over this time.
By writing, we can embrace the holiday spirit and care for ourselves during this sensitive time.
Below we’ve included a list of Christmas writing prompts for adults for insight and reflection, fun Christmas writing prompts, prompts about Christmas memories, and even some tips on how to write a great Christmas card to send to friends and family near and far.
Read through the prompts and see which ones spark your interest. Consider sharing this article with a friend for whom a Christmas journaling session may be enjoyable!
Christmas writing prompts for adults
Read through the 40 Christmas-themed writing prompts below to get your creative juices flowing and keep up your journaling habit over the holidays!
Christmas memories
We all have strong memories of Christmas past. Some are happy, funny, and joyful, while others may be sad or stressful. Christmas is such a significant time that anything that happens over this season tends to remain in mind as something we associate with Christmas.
Whether you have happy or sad memories of Christmas, it’s good to acknowledge them.
1. What’s your earliest Christmas memory? How do you feel about that memory now?
2. What holiday traditions do you enjoy?
3. What holiday traditions do you dislike?
4. What’s the best Christmas present you’ve ever received? Who gave it to you?
5. What’s the best Christmas gift you’ve ever given? Who did you give it to?
6. What was your experience of Santa Claus growing up? Did you believe in him? What age did you learn otherwise? How did you find out?
7. What was the first sign of the Christmas season when you were a child?
8. What’s your memory of a typical Christmas day when you were a child?
9. Did you have a favorite Christmas movie as a child? Do you still watch it at Christmas time?
Christmas prompts for introspection
Since the holiday season is such an emotionally charged time for many and is often when we take a break from ”normal life,” this can be a particularly potent and revealing time for self-reflection and introspection.
The following prompts should help you discover your true feelings about Christmas and help you gain insight into how you approach it.
1. Do you find it easy or difficult to enter the holiday spirit?
2. What emotions does the Christmas season evoke for you?
3. What is your favorite part of the holiday season?
4. How do you feel about the giving and receiving of gifts?
5. How does the Christmas season affect your close relationships? Does it bring you closer to people, or do conflicts tend to arise?
6. How do you practice self-care over the holidays? And why do you think self-care is vital at this time?
7. Does stress affect you over the holidays? Which parts of the holidays do you find stressful? And how do you usually deal with that stress?
8. Is there anything about Christmas that evokes sadness? What makes you sad at this time, and why is it significant?
9. Does Christmas make you feel nostalgic? For what, where, or who are you nostalgic?
10. How do you feel about the religious significance of Christmas? If you’re not into the religious or spiritual side of Christmas, what do you enjoy about it?
11. What do you feel most thankful for around Christmas time?
Fun Christmas writing prompts
Below are some fun and interesting Christmas writing prompts to get you started.
1. If you have your own family, do you take part in the same holiday traditions you took part in growing up? Or do you embrace a new holiday tradition?
2. In what ways can you be more charitable around the holidays?
3. Who are your favorite people to connect with over the holidays?
4. Identify three people, dead or alive, famous or not, with whom you’d love to have Christmas dinner. Why did you choose these three people?
5. What’s your favorite way to spend Christmas eve?
6. If you could receive any gift for Christmas this year, what would you like it to be?
7. What does an ideal Christmas morning look like to you?
8. How do you usually feel about Christmas songs? Do you love them or hate them? If you hate them, is there one you secretly love? A guilty pleasure?
9. How do you like to decorate your home for Christmas? Do you like extravagant decorations, or do you prefer to keep them minimal?
10. What are some must-have decorations for the Christmas tree?
11. Describe your ideal Christmas dinner.
12. Who cooked Christmas dinner when you were a child? And who cooks Christmas dinner now?
13. Do you prefer to spend Christmas at home or on holiday away from home?
14. When do you start to get into the Christmas spirit? At the beginning of December? Or the week of Christmas?
15. How do you find the Christmas shopping experience? Do you enjoy the bustle of the shops or is it too much?
16. Do you prefer to go Christmas shopping alone or with people? Do you usually go with someone in particular?
17. Do you think you’re good at buying gifts?
18. Other than Christmas dinner, what’s your favorite thing to eat around Christmas? Have you got a favorite Christmas snack? A tasty food that you only eat around Christmas time?
19. Have you ever peeked at a Christmas present before it was time to open it?
How to write a great Christmas card
Christmas cards are a great way to let people know you’re thinking about them. You can give them to friends and family as a gift to be saved or send them to loved ones far away to let them know that you’re thinking about them.
When writing a great one, you may want to add more than just a ”Merry Christmas”. These two simple words may suffice, but to make it extra memorable and meaningful, write about your wishes for the recipient and what their friendship means to you.
Below we’ve included some simple tips for writing a thoughtful Christmas card you can send with love.
- Start with a greeting, such as Merry Christmas! or Happy Holidays!
- Express your love and affection for this person or family
- Share a fond memory of a shared Christmas past or hopes for a shared Christmas in the future.
- Include a sentimental, heart-warming Christmas-themed quote
- Sign off with love
Heart-warming Christmas quotes
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the bustle and stress of Christmas time. The quotes below remind you about the joys of Christmas and just how vital this festive holiday is for friends, family, and loved ones.
“Christmas is most truly Christmas when we celebrate it by giving the light of love to those who need it most.”
Ruth Carter Stapleton
“We are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas time.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder
“Santa Claus is anyone who loves another and seeks to make them happy; who gives himself by thought or word or deed in every gift that he bestows.” – Edwin Osgood Grover
“It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.” – W.T. Ellis
“Probably the reason we all go so haywire at Christmas time with the endless unrestrained and often silly buying of gifts is that we don’t quite know how to put our love into words.” – Harlan Miller
“It is in giving that we receive.” – Francis of Assisi
“The way you spend Christmas is far more important than how much.” – Henry David Thoreau
“Christmas is a season for kindling the fire for hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart.” – Washington Irving
Conclusion
Christmas is a time of fun and festivities, sharing love with those around us and being charitable to the less fortunate.
It also signifies the end of another year and the approach of a new one. As such, spending time journaling and reflecting at this time of year can be fruitful.
Hopefully, the Christmas-themed writing prompts in this article have inspired you to express your thoughts and feelings in the written word.
Finally, don’t keep these prompts and ideas exclusive to journaling. All the questions above can be great topics of conversation with friends and family and can even help you get to know strangers or new friends better!