# Explain christmas card joke **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 12, 2015, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365 "2015-11-12T09:33:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Calavera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calavera/32/70_2.png) [@Calavera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calavera)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/1 "2015-11-12T09:33:53Z")
_Private Eye_, a UK satire magazine are offering a selection of humourous christmas cards. One of them, I just don’t get though. In the background we see the standard nativity stable. In the foreground are 3 men. 2 are carrying boxes, (presumably containing gold and frankincence) the other is carrying a big blue egg wrapped with a ribbon. The othe 2 guys are looking at him and the caption is “Too soon?” ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/2 "2015-11-12T09:37:19Z")
> [@Calavera](#): > > _Private Eye_, a UK satire magazine are offering a selection of humourous christmas cards. One of them, I just don’t get though. In the background we see the standard nativity stable. In the foreground are 3 men. 2 are carrying boxes, (presumably containing gold and frankincence) the other is carrying a big blue egg wrapped with a ribbon. The othe 2 guys are looking at him and the caption is “Too soon?” It’s an Easter egg. Though I suspect that a theologian might well say that, of course, fir Christians the nativity only makes sense because of the crucifixion and resurrection. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/3 "2015-11-12T09:38:24Z")
I’m assuming the joke is about the fact that, just as Christmas merchandise gets put out in September now, Easter merchandise gets put out immediately after Christmas. The man has brought an (big chocolate) Easter egg, even though it’s only December. Hence “Too soon”? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/4 "2015-11-12T09:38:53Z")
Easter. Jesus is only just born and it’s a gift celebrating His Resurrection. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/5 "2015-11-12T09:40:55Z")
I thought of the joke as “way to tell an infant and his parents you’re already anticipating (celebrating) his death.” ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/6 "2015-11-12T09:49:19Z")
> [@Leaper](#): > > I thought of the joke as “way to tell an infant and his parents you’re already anticipating (celebrating) his death.” Which is exactly what people say about myrrh, saying it was often used in burial rituals. I heard it so often as a kid that I to this day can’t shake the feeling that the similar sounding “mirth” shouldn’t refer to something happy. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/7 "2015-11-12T10:02:31Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Which is exactly what people say about myrrh, saying it was often used in burial rituals. I heard it so often as a kid that I to this day can’t shake the feeling that the similar sounding “mirth” shouldn’t refer to something happy. According to Wikipedia, _“Myrrh resin is a natural gum. It has been used throughout history as a perfume, incense and medicine.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ac8455/32.png) [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Your_Great_Darsh_Face)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2015, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/8 "2015-11-12T11:13:10Z")
Myrrh? It is a valuable balm. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/9 "2015-11-13T03:28:57Z")
See, that’s what makes it a good joke. We have _two_ distinct interpretations here: Too soon to be bringing Easter gifts when the Christmas holiday season is only just beginning; and too soon to be celebrating the crucifixion and resurrection when the baby is only just born. No need to argue which is the right interpretation. Packing both of them into the one simple cartoon gives it a clever double-whammy. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/10 "2015-11-13T04:03:54Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Which is exactly what people say about myrrh, saying it was often used in burial rituals. I heard it so often as a kid that I to this day can’t shake the feeling that the similar sounding “mirth” shouldn’t refer to something happy. This is an interesting anecdote in many ways. I still have trouble with “camp,” because I used to hear the word around the table as a kid only to mean “concentration camp”–but I can’t think of something like yours based on a (near) homophone. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/11 "2015-11-13T06:18:02Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > See, that’s what makes it a good joke. We have _two_ distinct interpretations here: Too soon to be bringing Easter gifts when the Christmas holiday season is only just beginning; and too soon to be celebrating the crucifixion and resurrection when the baby is only just born. No need to argue which is the right interpretation. Packing both of them into the one simple cartoon gives it a clever double-whammy. I liked Dave Allen’s take on that: Nun: “He was born on Christmas Day and died on Easter.” Young Dave Allen: “Well, he didn’t hang around, did he?” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Aussie\_chef](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Aussie\_chef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aussie_chef)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/12 "2015-11-13T10:31:22Z")
A theory about Christmas jokes is that they should be really lame. This is because jokes divide people - either everyone against the but of the joke or those that ‘get’ it and those that don’t, Christmas jokes are normally so bad that it becomes all of us against the joke. This refers to the jokes in the bonbons not cartoons like the one this thread is about, but hopefully interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Memnon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Memnon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Memnon)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/13 "2015-11-13T11:59:14Z")
Why does Santa drive a Sleigh with bells on it? Because he’s a cunt. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/14 "2015-11-13T13:50:18Z")
Seem’s lame enough to me. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/15 "2015-11-13T14:39:20Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Which is exactly what people say about myrrh, saying it was often used in burial rituals. My thought also. I don’t see why an Easter egg would be less appropriate than myrrh, which is why I think the joke is fairly lame even after it was explained. The Magi brought three gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold because Jesus is King, frankincense because He is a priest, and myrrh because He would die. So an Easter egg would be less inappropriate than myrrh, because eggs are a resurrection symbol and myrrh is associated only with death. A joke is rarely funny after it is explained. Maybe that’s the problem too. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/16 "2015-11-13T14:40:56Z")
> [@Your\_Great\_Darsh\_Face](#): > > Myrrh? It is a valuable balm. A bomb! What are you giving him a bomb for?! ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/17 "2015-11-13T15:26:11Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > According to Wikipedia, _“Myrrh resin is a natural gum. It has been used throughout history as a perfume, incense and medicine.”_ > [@Shodan](#): > > … and myrrh because He would die. No, myrrh symbolises healing. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/18 "2015-11-13T15:43:19Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > See, that’s what makes it a good joke. We have _two_ distinct interpretations here: Too soon to be bringing Easter gifts when the Christmas holiday season is only just beginning; and too soon to be celebrating the crucifixion and resurrection when the baby is only just born. No need to argue which is the right interpretation. Packing both of them into the one simple cartoon gives it a clever double-whammy. I interpreted it in a third way. Eggs and chocolate didn’t come along for many centuries later, when spring fertility festivities got absorbed into Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![WF\_Tomba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d9b06d/32.png) [@WF\_Tomba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WF_Tomba)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/19 "2015-11-13T16:46:56Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > A bomb! What are you giving him a bomb for?! Is there no bomb in Gilead? (The Jordanian government wants to know.) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365/20 "2015-11-13T18:04:54Z")
> [@Aussie\_chef](#): > > A theory about Christmas jokes is that they should be really lame. This is because jokes divide people - either everyone against the but of the joke or those that ‘get’ it and those that don’t, Christmas jokes are normally so bad that it becomes all of us against the joke. This refers to the jokes in the bonbons not cartoons like the one this thread is about, but hopefully interesting. Money is tight and times are hard So here’s your fucking Christmas card. I’ve sent this one a few times to people I knew would appreciate the sentiment. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-christmas-card-joke/737365.md?page=2)