geeky
Before the couple left for Texas, they had already chosen and ordered their annual Christmas card. Smithsonion.com tells us that this was to be "a 4 1/2- by 6 1/2-inch Hallmark card, custom made for them, bearing a color photograph of an 18th-century Neapolitan crèche that had been displayed in the East Room of the White House each year they had lived there. The inside of the card featured an embossed seal of an American eagle holding an olive branch in one talon and arrows in the other." The message on the inside of the card read “With our wishes for a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.” The first couple had even personally signed the first batch of cards (less than 75). at their leisure. If you want to see this Christmas card, one is on display in the collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. It can also be seen at the JFK Presidential Library and Museum.
Understandably, the card was never sent. Following the assassination of the president, it was a very difficult time for the first lady. Normally she would have been supervising the decoration of the White House, hosting seasonal receptions, planning her daughter's Christmas pageant and busying herself with other holiday activities. Instead she was packing in preparation for leaving the White House. She moved out of the White House on Friday, December 6, 1963, just two weeks after her husband's death. Initially the family moved to a house in the Georgetown section of Washington D.C. which friends of hers had generously vacated.
Smithsonion tells us that although Mrs. Kennedy did not send out any Christmas cards, she did send out a number of presents to some of those close to her and her late husband. For example, she gave Robert McNamara (her husband's Defense Secretary) a specially bound copy of a book containing the Inaugural Addresses of all of the Presidents of the United States. Inside the book, she wrote: “For Robert McNamara—The President was going to give you this for Christmas—Please accept it now from me—With my devotion always for all you did for Jack. Jackie, December 1963.” She also gave another copy of the same book to Kennedy's friend and political advisor Dave Powers, with the inscription: “With my devotion always for all you did to give Jack so many happy hours. You and I will miss him most. Jackie.” She also gave Powers a framed set of three black-and-white photographs of Powers playing with her son John Jr. On the mat around the photographs, she wrote: “For Dave Powers—Who gave the President so many of his happiest hours—and who will now do the same for his son, John Jr. With my devotion always—for your devotion to Jack/Jackie, Christmas, 1963.”