6 Days to Christmas, Friday, Dec 19, 2025

The First “Merry Christmas”

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol might be the most iconic and influential holiday story of all time. It was published on this day in 1843. The first edition included 6,000 printed copies, all of which were sold by Christmas Eve that same year. In other words, it was an instant hit, and even more importantly, it helped popularize the phrase “Merry Christmas.”

The Christmas greeting itself was first published more than one hundred years earlier by Bishop John Fisher, who wrote it in a letter to Thomas Cromwell, the chief minister of King Henry VIII. The phrase circulated modestly, but it was not until Dickens published his famous story that “Merry Christmas” became a widely used greeting.

What do you think? Is there a place on earth that has never heard the phrase “Merry Christmas”? Does everyone know what it means? How do people respond when we say it? And how do we respond when someone says it to us?

Isn’t it amazing how a simple greeting can go such a long way? In recent years, many of us have begun using the phrase “Happy Holidays” instead. I understand that and often say it myself, since not everyone celebrates Christmas. Still, the phrase “Merry Christmas” carries a sweeter and more fulfilling feeling.

It is the last Friday before Christmas. Offer someone a “Merry Christmas” today and see what happens… and God bless us, every one!

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  (Romans 15:13, NRSVue)