What Does Merry Christmas Mean?

How many people have personally wished you a Merry Christmas this year? Does each additional wish put pressure on you to enjoy the day more? Or does it increase your excitement and anticipation? Now that it's Boxing Day, we can analyse this in retrospect.

And how about those tardy cards that arrive a few days after the big day in the glut of mail. Do the words have any effect now that the day has passed? Or are they merely decorated pieces of cardboard?

In my mind, the words contribute marginally to my warm fuzzy glow of festive cheer, no matter how many times  I hear or read them. To understand this better, realise that instead of a fuel guage in most of our minds is a Christmas guage that ranges from empty to full depending on the time of year. And each card received, each greeting, each Christmas special on tv sends the needle further towards full. 

Cards also have a science fiction element for me - they trigger a visualisation of the person who sent it, like a hologram: I picture them sitting down and writing amid a stack of other cards.