How to Write Merry Christmas in Cursive

The text below is not a font. Each letter is a separate Unicode character from the Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols block (or, in the last two rows, with a few extra symbols around it). That is why it can be pasted into messages, captions and bios that do not let you pick a font. Select a line and copy it.

Three limits are worth knowing before you paste. First, some apps and older devices cannot draw these characters and show empty boxes instead. Second, screen readers often read them out as "mathematical script capital M" rather than as words, so do not use this text for anything someone has to read with assistive technology, such as an email subject or a school notice. Third, only the letters change: the text is not truly joined, so it looks like cursive but is not the connected handwriting you would write.

To turn any other greeting into the same styles, use the cursive font copy and paste tool or the cursive generator. For a full explanation of how this text works, see the notes on that page.

Merry Christmas has two capitals and twelve lowercase letters, and in school-style cursive each word is written in one flowing line after its capital. The pen only lifts for the capitals, for the dot on the i, and for the cross on the t. If you do not yet know all the letters, the cursive alphabet shows each one animated.

Merry

1. Capital M. Start at the baseline and swing up to the top line. Come straight down to the baseline, then up and over to the top line again. Come down to the baseline and finish with a short exit stroke. Lift before the next letter.
2. e. Start on the baseline and swing up to the midline. Make a small loop: round the top and come back to the left. Curve down and around the bottom to the baseline, then flick up into an exit stroke to join the r.
3. r, then r again. Each r starts on the baseline, swings up to a point just above the midline, dips down slightly and curves right into a shoulder. It finishes with a short stroke at the midline, ready to join the next letter.
4. y. Start at the midline and curve down to the baseline, come back up to the midline, then retrace straight down through the baseline. Continue to the descender line, loop to the left and swing back up to finish with an exit stroke. If you are writing a card, the exit stroke can simply trail off.

Christmas

1. Capital C. Start near the top line at the right and curve left in a wide counterclockwise arc. Sweep down and around the bottom of the letter and finish with a small hook near the baseline. Capital C does not usually connect, so lift the pen.
2. h. Start on the baseline and swing up to the top line, loop over and come straight down. Retrace up the stem to about the midline, curve over in a hump, come down to the baseline and sweep into the exit stroke.
3. r, i, s. The r leaves at the midline, but the i starts with an upswing from the baseline. Take a moment to come down to the baseline for the start of the i; this is the place where words most often go wrong, and it is explained below. The s starts on the baseline, peaks just above the midline, curves down and left, rounds the bottom and sweeps right.
4. t, m, a, s. The t rises about two-thirds of the way to the top line, comes straight back down and exits. The m and a are the simple baseline joins. Finish with the last s.
5. Last, the finishing touches. Go back and dot the i and cross the t with a short horizontal line. Doing them after the whole word keeps the line flowing.

The stroke steps above follow the same rules used on every letter page of this site. For a step-by-step with a picture for every letter, open the lowercase letters and the capital letters. If you want to see how each letter connects to the next, connecting letters in cursive explains the join rules.

The picture builds the greeting one letter at a time. Write the first line, then add one letter at a time to the next without lifting the pen. It is a slow way to write it, which is exactly what makes it a good first practice.

Because the greeting is only 15 characters, most mistakes happen in the same few places. Each one comes straight from the join rules.

These four spots are not special to this greeting. The same two ideas (leaving at the midline after b, o, r, v and w, and starting round or upswing letters from the baseline) explain most joining problems in any word. If you want practice on the same joins in other words, try cursive words or the Christmas cursive practice worksheets.

The PDF is three pages, drawn from the same stroke engine as the pictures on this site. Print it at 100% on US Letter or A4.

• Page 1, practice sheet. The whole greeting once as a dark model, then as a gray line to trace, then empty ruled lines. Below that, Merry and Christmas on their own for repeated practice.
• Page 2, four mini cards. Four card fronts to cut out, each with Merry Christmas to trace on the front and lines on the card for your own message and a With love, to trace above the signature.
• Page 3, eight gift tags. Eight tags with Merry Christmas to trace and To and From lines. Cut along the dashed line and punch the hole at the circle.

Trace with a pencil first, then ink, and only then write the words without a guide. The gray line is meant to be gone by the third or fourth try. For a gradual set of Christmas words and sentences, see the Christmas cursive practice sheets.

A short greeting in cursive is one of the easiest ways to make a card feel handmade, and the layout matters as much as the handwriting. The three layouts below are the ones the printable sheet is built around.

• Card front. Put Merry on the first line and Christmas on the second. Writing the words larger and on two lines keeps the capitals from crowding each other.
• Gift tag. One line is enough. Use a medium or fine pen so the loops stay clean at a small size, and leave room for the To and From lines.
• Inside. A short message is enough. Try a line of your own news, then With love, and your name. If you want ideas for pens, see best pens for cursive.

Four other short greetings use the same joins and are easy to write after this one: Season’s Greetings (𝒮ℯ𝒶𝓈ℴ𝓃’𝓈 𝒢𝓇ℯℯ𝓉𝒾𝓃ℊ𝓈), Happy Holidays (ℋ𝒶𝓅𝓅𝓎 ℋℴ𝓁𝒾𝒹𝒶𝓎𝓈), Warm Wishes (𝒲𝒶𝓇𝓂 𝒲𝒾𝓈𝒽ℯ𝓈) and Joy to the World (𝒥ℴ𝓎 𝓉ℴ 𝓉𝒽ℯ 𝒲ℴ𝓇𝓁𝒹). If you write on the card with your non-dominant hand or you are left-handed, our left-handed cursive guide has advice on paper position and ink that smears.

When in doubt, send the plain text with a handwritten card or image. If you would like to play with other words in cursive, the cursive translator shows any text in connected handwriting on screen, and you can save the image.