Diwali wishes for your family

Six messages you could actually send

Continue writing opens that message in the card with the words already in it, so all that is left is to change a word and send it. The last message is the longest of the six, and it is the only one you have to copy across yourself.

1. Happy Diwali to everyone there. I'm sorry to be missing it, and I'll be there properly for the next one. Send photos of the lights and the whole table, and keep a plate aside for whenever I land. Wishing all of you a good, easy year. 🪔

   Continue writing with message 1

2. Happy Diwali to all of you. Wishing I were in the middle of all that noise instead of here, where the day is passing like any other. Hope the house is full and the cooking finishes before the guests arrive for once. Ring me tonight.

   Continue writing with message 2

3. Happy Diwali to the whole house. Thank you for being the place I measure everything else against. Hope this year is steadier for all of you than the last one was, and that the mithai lasts well past the weekend. Missing every one of you today.

   Continue writing with message 3

4. Happy Diwali to everyone. I assume the cleaning finished at the last possible minute, three people are arguing about diya placement, and somebody has already claimed the good sweets. Some traditions hold. Hope the whole day goes well for all of you.

   Continue writing with message 4

5. Happy Diwali. It's the one day in the year when the distance actually registers, mostly around the time everyone sits down to eat and I'm not there. Wishing all of you light, a full table, and a year that goes gently. Save some for me.

   Continue writing with message 5

6. Happy Diwali to every one of you. I'm sorry to be missing it again. By now the cleaning will have finished at the last possible minute, somebody will have claimed the good sweets, and the whole house will be arguing pleasantly about nothing. Keep a plate aside for me. Wishing all of you light and an easy year.

   Copy

Writing your own

Ask for something rather than only apologising. Send photographs of the table gives the family a job and turns your absence into a thread rather than a regret. An apology on its own leaves them with nothing to do but reassure you.

Address the house, not each person. A Diwali card to a family works best as one letter read out loud, so avoid a paragraph per person. Everyone there is warmer than a list, and it will be read at the table.