Christmas Family Newsletters?

[Heather in Neverland]

Am I the only one that does NOT write one? I don't get the point of them. If a person is a part of your life then they should already know what is going on in your life. If you have to write a letter to someone to tell them what has happened in your life over the last YEAR then they are not really in your life, are they? :001_huh:

 

I have this very distant cousin that I have never known well and haven't seen or spoken to since my wedding almost 13 years ago. There is no real reason behind it other than, we just don't know each other, live far from each other, etc. Yes, we are genetically related albeit distantly but that's about it.

 

And yet every year she sends this long letter about every single thing she and her family did in the last year. It just seems ...I don't know...weird. I mean, I don't even know her and if she really wanted us to know what was going on in her life then we would be a part of it, right?

 

And what's even more unusual are my friends that I talk to all the time and I get christmas letters from them telling me everything about the last year and I'm like "yeah, I know, I was there!"

 

So can someone please enlighten me on what the point is of a christmas newsletter?

[Rosie_0801]

I don't think Australians do much of this, but in the age of Facebook, I have to wonder why it is necessary.

 

Rosie

[BMW]

Well... I haven't done them very often, though I have wanted to every year. For me, my family grows all the time... brothers marry, have children... the children grow up and are now having children. I am their Aunt and I want them to know a bit about me. But, we all live all over the country. A couple of my nieces can see what I am up to on facebook. But, only a couple. What about the others? Do they really care? I don't know. But I care. When one of my nieces died suddenly and I didn't know her at all and she really didn't know me as a person, but "Oh, yeah, my dad has a sister who lives somewhere..." I decided to reach out to relatives. Some day, it may make a difference. And my own aunts and uncles... we are distant, too, but they love to see pics and hear the news because they haven't always been online. I could see that in just a matter of some more years, everyone would see us and know what we are up to based on friends and facebook... But, for now, it's a time I reach out. I include significant updates, not a list of what we did this year. And, this year I included a poem I wrote and a few articles written by a few of my boys... they are funny and I know the grandparents will get a kick out of it all.

 

I plan carefully who I will send it out to... I'm not handing these out to every friend or acquaintance. Just people that I know will care. I also have a cover with some photos of us during the year. That is special because my best friend will not use a computer and even though we talk every couple of weeks all year long, she sees photos of us and reads some of our creative work.

 

Oh, and I can keep a copy for myself each year and put it in the back of our photo albums... makes a neat written record for my grandchildren to come across and read someday...

 

Those are my reasons... though I could go on and come up with some more, I guess those are the more imporant ones... that is my "why".

[ElizabethB]

Ours is one page and we try to make it at least 80% pictures.

 

Many of our friends are military, and we have never lived in the same state as either of our families. We appreciate getting updates from our good friends and family who are out of state. Several of our military friends have moved in and out of our lives, sometimes you end up at the same location with them again, it's nice to be able to keep up in the meantime.

 

Also, we spend a lot of time on ours and save it in a book of Christmas letters, the children enjoy looking at previous Christmas letters, and I'm sure we'll appreciate them when we're older. I met a Grandma who had 30+ years of her Christmas letters saved in a book--it was fun to look through them. It was also interesting to see the technology changes, they started out as purple "ditto" sheets, then photocopied letters, then computer printed letters.

Edited December 4, 2009 by ElizabethB

[angela in ohio]

I don't think Australians do much of this, but in the age of Facebook, I have to wonder why it is necessary.

 

Rosie

 

:D Yep, people can brag about the wonderful things the do daily on FB, so they don't need to wait for the annual Christmas letter. ;)

 

I think they are bizarre, and I think they represent a shift in people's priorities. As I said in the other thread, Christmas cards used to be about wishing the other person a merry Christmas and a happy New Year, sending them love, and hoping they were doing well. Now there is the growing trend to make it about how the sender is doing.

[keptwoman]

I used to do one for the family that we dont see regularly. The family really enjoyed getting them. Now we have a blog. If anyone wants to know what we are up to they can look at that and if they choose not to then they obviously don't care so I wouldn't send them a letter anyway.

Actually these days I dont bother much with cards either.

[kilo90]

We are in the military and move every 18 months to 3 years. My 9 year old has moved to 2 different countries and 3 different states in her life. We do newsletters because most of our friends are military families. We grow very close to each other as we go through highs and lows together (births, never-ending deployments, deaths) since we are far away from family. I LOVE getting updates each year from folks. We enjoy hearing how children's personalities have developed over the years. I'm sure newsletters are not for everyone, but for military families, they are great. If nothing else, we find out where everyone is moving the next year and sometime see that we get to cross paths again!:)

[ChristusG]

Families are so busy today that even though I'd like to be close to all of my family, it is just not possible. Some live far away and we just do not get the opportunity to chat much, some live in town but with day to day schedules, we just do not see them. And I'm not a phone talker, so I'm not going to call them.

 

We send out a Christmas letter and everyone in the family is always thrilled to receive it. And likewise, I love getting Christmas letters from family I do not see much. Even though we do not see each other often, I still like to know what's going on with them. Even my mom, whom lives around the corner, I talk to every day, and see most every day, said she loves reading our Christmas letters.

[grace'smom]

I did the first year our daughter was born. I don't think I saw much of anyone that year, LOL. Each year since I tried to draft one and it always seemed kind of silly, like I was just fawning all over my daughter and husband. So now I write them and just keep them for us, so that when my daughter gets older she can look back and see the progress and love we had for her each year. It's always silly stuff like "Grace seems to be developing a love for art, etc..." It's more for her than anyone else so we just keep it.

 

BUT- This year I am considering sending one out that says we are HOMESCHOOLING next year. Then people will stop asking us the big kindergarten questions and we won't have to go through the same conversation 500 times. Why are you homeschooling, etc., do you not like the schools, etc.? Might be a good way to get that conversation done without ever actually having it, LOL.

[momtoboys]

We send one out at least every other year. . .mostly to older relatives who wouldn't be on facebook necessarily.

 

Last year, I thought our life was so mundane, I didn't bother. LOL. This year, I'm sending one out. I always try to make it a little bit realistic. I kind of have a distate for Christmas letters that read:

 

"Our child was the top student at his school every week last year, and my husband got a 200K raise, and we moved into a mini-mansion, and then we took a vacation to Hawaii for a month. After that, we came back where we got right back into participating in our numerous church ministries. As a family, we are memorizing the book of Leviticus together." :lol:

 

Seriously, you know what i mean!

[MeanestMomInMidwest]

We do one every year and I have been told that folks look forward to it. I try to make it funny and non-braggy with updates. We are an ex-military family with friends scattered around the globe. I live across the country from my extended family, so get to see most of my aunts, uncles and cousins once during the summer if I'm lucky. I know these people take a mild interest in us and although I wish I were better at communicating throughout the year, the fact is that I'm not. Most of these people are not on my Facebook.

 

I love getting letters from our distant and not-so distant friends. The ones I like the most include pictures so my dh and I can say things like, "Oh, my look at the newest baby, she/he looks so much like...." or "Good grief, look how big the boys are getting" and "look how much hair he's lost and how cute she looks now that she's letting her gray show. I guess we're all getting old together."

 

I do get a little jealous when some friends tell about their annual Hawaii vacation and new car, but that is a reflection on me. I let myself feel the twinge -- then I let myself feel happy for my friends' success, as I would if they were close to me.

[abbeyej]

I don't send them. But I actually generally enjoy receiving them (some more than others, of course). For instance, if *you* were my friend and I'd known you in one of the places where you've lived in the last few years, but because of all your moving, I hadn't had the chance to communicate with you regularly, I think I would really enjoy getting a letter telling me about all the exciting changes your family had experienced in the last year, and perhaps some of the cultural differences and challenges you've faced! On the one hand, I'd be interested in *you*, even if I *hadn't* spoken to you every two weeks in the past year... And on the other hand, I'd be interested in your particularly unusual and exciting year!

 

I mean, sure, some letters can rub one the wrong way. I prefer a single-page, double-spaced letter (rather than 6 pages of single-spaced type that makes my eyes cross), and I'd rather hear about something interesting or unusual about the year, or some funny anecdotes about the family than a laundry list of each family member's accomplishments. Boooring.

 

But even so, overall I *do* enjoy hearing about people -- especially the ones with whom I haven't maintained meticulous contact over the past year.

[jujsky]

I don't think Australians do much of this, but in the age of Facebook, I have to wonder why it is necessary.

 

 

:iagree: Many of my family members who I don't see are on Facebook, and we keep each other up-to-date with our status updates.

[LibrarianMom]

I tend to alternate doing a Christmas letter or a card. When I do a letter, I put in a lot of pictures and make sure it is no more than one page. Last year I put a little slip in each card with a single sentence about each of us. Another year I did a monthly highlights and picked out a single activity from each month of the year we enjoyed like "In May dd participated in her first dance recital." I figure even folks we talk to regularly enjoy the updates and most of the people I send Christmas cards to are far away relatives and friends who don't get the chance to see the kids much.

[JFSinIL]

We never have gotten our act together to write one....but sure enjoy reading the yearly updates from old college friends, etc. who live across the country.

[cathmom]

I like getting them. I've only sent one though. It was a Jeopardy-style quiz.

 

I think they are nice and I'd much rather get them than a card that is only signed with no info at all.

[Emmy]

I'm surprised that you feel that way when you've done a couple major moves in your life. Don't you have people from NC or MI that you want to keep in touch with but don't necessarily talk to every week/month? I love getting letters from families that we are friends with that have moved away or from my cousins or college friends that don't live close by. We keep in touch but certainly don't keep up with every detail and it's nice to hear about how their year was and what they've been up to. Not everyone I know facebooks so the annual christmas letter definitely serves a purpose for us.

[BikeBookBread]

I'm really torn about these. Some are really nice to get...from people who have been out of touch, don't do e-mail, etc. But then there are the letters we get from people we see every week. What's the point? We don't do Facebook anymore (pulled the plug in September woo hoo!) so I do feel out of touch from many people who have traded e-mail for FB.

 

Then there's the time it takes to do them. As a homeschooling mom of a 5 and 3 year old, WHEN?!?!?!? Last year we got about 10 cards/letters/pictures. Still trying to decide...

[chickenpatty]

We just send a picture Christmas card. I do enjoy receiving Christmas pictures and letters from friends who have moved away and are not in touch as often. However, we get one letter every year that I almost hate to even open. After reading it, I feel like a loser because of all the accomplishments of everyone in their family! :tongue_smilie:

[KatieJ]

When we moved from our childhood hometown 19 years ago........we started sending Christmas letters to keep in touch. Now that we live in another state, we have even more old friends, old neighbors, and a much larger extended family to keep in touch with. I love getting cards, but a letter is so personal and when you card giving list is almost 75, well, a newsletter is much easier. We didn't send one out the past 2 years, and now we have 3 more grandkids, and the youngest sons are graduated, in college, getting married......lots to share! I work on sharing facts, not GPA's. But even friends here where we live share stuff in their newsletters that I don't always know. I would agree Facebook will change the amount of information shared, but there are many many people on my card list that are not on Facebook and I have not talked to this year.

[Laurie4b]

They are a way to stay in touch, even if it's only once a year.

 

I used to write them and maybe I'll do one this year. We live at a distance from all of our family and so aunts, uncles, cousins, and old high school and college friends don't know what we're up to but want to. I like getting them from the same set of people.

 

I did not send them to friends in town (I don't send cards to folks in town), but I did send them to everyone else on my Christmas card list.

 

You can write them in a way that is appealing. When the kids were little, I used to write funny things they had said or done--like the kind of things that we have threads about here sometimes. Even young adult, distant cousins used to look forward to getting them (cause I would get requests for them if we were late in sending them, which we often were.) If I were to do one now, I'd probably bullet the kids' interests, but not accomplishments. I hate the ones that sound like resumes. No one wants to read a lot of text.

[hornblower]

I've never sent one. (I no longer send cards either)

 

I don't care about getting them. When we do, I'm the one who scans them & gives dh a summary: "Bob got religion; Susan was in South America last summer; the Smiths are still boring; the Joneses are still perfect." Then into the recycling they go.

 

I'm not terribly keen on the Christmas family photos either. That goes straight into recycling as well.

 

And yes, in the time of fb and blogs, I don't see the point of this mass produced mailout that looks like something from the local realtor (he sends me one too, btw).....

[AuntieM]

Well, hope no one feels hurt by my reply, but since you asked I will be truthful. We really don't like them very much at all.

 

There is *one* family that I actually enjoy receiving a letter from. It is a military family that we love dearly who moves often. Their kids were close friends with my kids and the letter includes many photos. It's not braggy, but always informative. We are not facebookers, so it is our yearly "catch-up" with them.

 

The other ones we get are usually so... self-centered. My husband has an annual "bragimony" letter contest and commentary... Who can create the most bragadocious and impersonal letter. Which person-we-know-the-least has added us to their apparently extensive mailing list. Like someone said on another post, sometimes you get one and you know the people well enough to know the letter isn't really a reflection of their lives at all, but only the cameo shots they choose to highlight (which is, of course, their prerogative, it just often doesn't ring true with the way we know them to be). He vows each year that he is going to write a phony one to top them all... maybe this year it will include winning the Nobel Prize... that's his odd sense of humor. Also in that same other thread, someone mentioned that if it's more than a couple of paragraphs, and/or typed in a small point font, it may not even get read all the way through.

 

And if someone sends one of those cards with their names pre-printed, and inserts a xeroxed letter that no one signed with their own hand, well, that's just another piece of bulk mail to me. It makes it easier for the sender, but it just reduces me to a direct mail client, not a cherished family friend.

 

We have sent a short newsletter with our cards only one time, the year we moved quickly and had a baby in the same month, and had not sent change of address info from the previous move. We felt if we didn't explain that one, people would truly think we'd gone into the Witness Protection Program or been abducted by aliens... basically it was a combined change of address card slash baby announcement. Aside from that, no annual newsletter at Christmas.

 

DH and I have taken to writing personal letters on each Christmas card we send. Some are short notes, some are longer, and in a few a true handwritten letter is inserted. Yes, it takes time, and we send fewer cards than we used to, but we feel it is the personal touch we'd prefer to receive ourselves.

 

Well, that may sound harsh, but you asked.... I know many others will feel differently. But I'd venture a guess that my sentiments are shared by a few others here.

[Happy]

I love Christmas letters. There are folks I care about all over the world but we are no longer in their immediate orbit. A flash between galaxies keeps us in touch.

 

We have two or three friends who NEVER write more than their name on the card. Never. While I think it is nice to know they are alive and still married (things you can't take for granted) I'd love to know what is going on in their lives. At least a few times in the last thirty years.

 

I guess I feel a little weird about sending them now. The venon some of you portray about receiving them is disconcerting. Do people really hate them...as in I wish you'd never even bothered? Do you not like hearing from other people AT ALL?

 

All a Christmas letter is is an invitation to be a part of our lives as we would love to be a part of yours. I do pray over the people on my card list and send many good wishes to them.

[zaichiki]

I prefer getting photo Christmas cards. I LOVE seeing how my cousins' kids are growing up... and I LOVE pictures of siblings all dressed up for Christmas. We tape up all the Christmas cards we get... and the kids prefer the photos, too. They love seeing pictures of their friends and cousins on the wall.

 

Merry Christmas!

Happy New Year!

[sparrow]

I enjoy receiving Christmas letters. I also enjoy reading blogs. I would never send a letter out, just as I've never started a blog, because *I* would feel self absorbed. Please don't take that to mean that I think people who send Christmas letters or blog are that way. It's my own hang up. I have trouble believing that people would be that interested in lil' ol' me n' mine. The grandparents have to BEG me to send pictures of my kids because I don't want to look like, "Hey, look how cute my kids are!!" (even though they are the most gorgeous children on earth. smartest,too :D)

[AuntieM]

I love Christmas letters. There are folks I care about all over the world but we are no longer in their immediate orbit. A flash between galaxies keeps us in touch.

 

We have two or three friends who NEVER write more than their name on the card. Never. While I think it is nice to know they are alive and still married (things you can't take for granted) I'd love to know what is going on in their lives. At least a few times in the last thirty years.

 

I guess I feel a little weird about sending them now. The venon some of you portray about receiving them is disconcerting. Do people really hate them...as in I wish you'd never even bothered? Do you not like hearing from other people AT ALL?

 

All a Christmas letter is is an invitation to be a part of our lives as we would love to be a part of yours. I do pray over the people on my card list and send many good wishes to them.

 

Well, I did suspect my dissenting view would not be shared by all ;).

 

Happy, please don't let my sentiments keep you from sending your letters. If I choose to be a Scrooge about it, well, that is my own choice, right? It's not that I don't care about these people. I just wish deep down that there were less braggadocios, bulk-mail type missives.

 

I *always* love to receive a personal letter from a friend. In my book, being a word girl, there's really nothing else like it. My point was that the letters we generally receive at Christmas time - often ONLY at Christmas time - are about the farthest thing from meaningful, personal correspondence that I can imagine. I would much prefer to engage in year-round, authentic communication. That is sadly missing in today's busy world (okay, there's no doubt a great argument for facebook here, I won't go into that...!).

[zaichiki]

Ours is one page and we try to make it at least 80% pictures.

 

Now *this* is different. We'd love getting something like that! Actually, we have one friend/family who also does this. It's a brief catalog of their year's important events, mostly told through pictuers. Each picture has a one-liner caption.

 

Maybe we'll do something like this someday...Hmmm...

[Tutor]

We do one every year and I have been told that folks look forward to it. I try to make it funny and non-braggy with updates. We are an ex-military family with friends scattered around the globe. I live across the country from my extended family, so get to see most of my aunts, uncles and cousins once during the summer if I'm lucky. I know these people take a mild interest in us and although I wish I were better at communicating throughout the year, the fact is that I'm not. Most of these people are not on my Facebook.

 

I love getting letters from our distant and not-so distant friends. The ones I like the most include pictures so my dh and I can say things like, "Oh, my look at the newest baby, she/he looks so much like...." or "Good grief, look how big the boys are getting" and "look how much hair he's lost and how cute she looks now that she's letting her gray show. I guess we're all getting old together."

 

I do get a little jealous when some friends tell about their annual Hawaii vacation and new car, but that is a reflection on me. I let myself feel the twinge -- then I let myself feel happy for my friends' success, as I would if they were close to me.

 

Ditto for us/ me.

[Karen_OK]

My 14 year old is writing the Christmas letter this year. It's part of his English assignment since he was learning about letter writing. I'll have to do some editing, but overall he's doing a great job. We don't send a letter every year, but I enjoy getting letters from others. Some are very creative. In fact, a creative letter we received last year has provided inspiration for my son as he has been working on our letter this year.

[Dayle in Guatemala]

We don't write them either. Because we're missionaries, we do newsletters on a regular basis and don't feel the need for a special holiday one--just one more thing!

[Daisy]

We stopped doing them once we started emailing. Just seemed pointless.

[Basketmaker Amy]

I agree! A picture is worth a thousand words!!! I prefer personal handwritten notes in cards. Merry Christmas!

[Tammyla]

I'm a picture lover too.

 

I agree! A picture is worth a thousand words!!! I prefer personal handwritten notes in cards. Merry Christmas!

[Jean in Newcastle]

In 16 years of marriage, there have only been 2 years that I didn't send one. And both years I had multiple people complain that they didn't get one. So some people must like them. I've had a couple of people each year send me letters afterward in response to something that I said in the card.

[HRAAB]

My dh comes from a very large family that is spread out around the world. We do not even see some of them yearly. Whether right or wrong, they are not letter writers (I think this is something is sadly dying out in our time due to internet and all), so those Christmas letters are very appreciated updates. I love finding out all the cool things my nephews in China are doing or my niece in NYC. If it wasn't for the Christmas letter, it might be a couple years before I get that kind of update.

 

I guess if we were all on Facebook we would keep updated, but quite a few of dh's siblings are not. My girls keep up with their cousins on Facebook, but for us old fogies, we need the Christmas letters.

[angela in ohio]

Do you not like hearing from other people AT ALL?

 

I love to hear from people. I love when they write me a personal note to let me know they are thinking about me, I love when they call me up with good news, I love when they ask if we can get together. :001_smile:

[Heather in Neverland]

I'm surprised that you feel that way when you've done a couple major moves in your life. Don't you have people from NC or MI that you want to keep in touch with but don't necessarily talk to every week/month? .

 

Yes, and I keep up with them all the time...we email, facebook, skype, talk on the phone, they subscribe to my blog and I subscribe to theirs if they have one, etc.

 

To me, if I have to send a letter covering everything we did in the last year with or without pictures because we have not been in touch in the last year and this letter is the only way you will know what has been going on in my life...well, I guess we really aren't that important in each other's lives. If I really cared about you and you really cared about me then we would keep in touch by some form or another more than once a year.

 

So maybe it isn't the actually christmas letters themselves that bother me as much as the idea behind them....like "you aren't important enough in my life for me to have made an effort to keep in touch with you at all during the last year but I will send you a yearly update to make you feel like you actually matter."

 

I find them a little insulting to be honest. If you can't make any time to keep in touch with me in an entire year? Then don't bother.

[keptwoman]

Others have mentioned the impersonal preprinted Christmas cards/photos. I also dislike them a lot. I do love seeing the photo but for goodness sakes if I'm not even worth 1 minute of your time to write a personal note and sign your name... please don't bother!! I think it's quite a US thing because I've only ever got them from friends in the US and never from Australian/New Zealanders. Long may it NOT be an acceptable form of Christmas card here.

In the days before we blogged and I did send a Christmas letter it was always full of photos and in a personally written card.

[AmeliaJade]

I haven't read through the responses but I don't do a letter. I agree with you on this Heather--anyone who is in my life already knows what is going on and anyone else just really wouldn't care.

 

I find holiday letters rather pretentious. The ones I've received come across more as bragging and showing off. I just don't want to be one of THOSE people.

[orangearrow]

I love receiving the letters - especially from cousins/long-distance friends who I don't hear from all year long (but are still on my Christmas Card list). I don't like the letters if there are no pictures - I LOVE getting pictures at Christmas. Even if I see pictures of those same people on FB or email or whatever... I love having a picture in my own little hands to hang up during Christmas.

 

I never send letters though. I'd like to write up a funny one to mail (our neighbor does this every year and it's hysterical!!!), but I'm just... not that funny! LOL

[Audrey]

We don't do a xmas letter either. I always get one from a cousin I haven't seen in close to 30 years. I think it's the same letter I've been getting for the past 20 years. At least, it seems so.

 

I don't do facebook either, although people often ask me if I'm on facebook. No. If you want me, then email me, or phone me, but facebook? Not my thing.

[Suzanne in ABQ]

Well, we were in the military for 15 years (dh for 21 years). We made some very dear friends, a lot of them, and they're now scattered all over the country. We consider them close friend, but in this busy, mobile world, it is simply impossible to be in close contact with them. No, they're not a part of our daily lives, but they are very close to our heart. And, we're close to them.

 

We all send Christmas letters to each other, and we all love them. I make a notebook every year. I love to compare the pictures of the kids as they grow up. I love to hear what they're doing. It allows me to feel a bit closer to them.

 

I also send letters to my dh's family. They live on the other side of the country, and we only see them every 2 or 3 years. They love the letters. Mine has morphed into a really cool tri-fold newsletter (thanks to my iMac). It's full of pictures, with a tiny article under each kids' pic.

 

Most of these people aren't on Facebook. Many of them (dh's dad, for one) isn't even on the internet.

 

I don't know why some people get so shook up about people sending Christmas letters. In the old days, people moved from your neighborhood, and the were gone from you forever. You might receive a Christmas card with only a signature. Is that better?

[BridgeTea]

I have no desire to send one, but don't mind getting them.

 

My favorite from a distant relative could be considered extremely obnoxious bragging. These people accomplish astounding things! But it's well-written and humorous so I don't mind, because I know the work they do and how generous and humble they are in person. It's cool to see what they are up to.

 

If you're going to send one, I'd say know your audience. I could read Cousin Amy's annual letter and go slink off in a corner somewhere feeling pretty pathetic. As it is, it's great fodder for a spoof and I wouldn't be afraid to tell her that if I ever saw her more than once every 10 years.

[IsabelC]

I always try to make it a little bit realistic. I kind of have a distate for Christmas letters that read:

 

"Our child was the top student at his school every week last year, and my husband got a 200K raise, and we moved into a mini-mansion, and then we took a vacation to Hawaii for a month. After that, we came back where we got right back into participating in our numerous church ministries. As a family, we are memorizing the book of Leviticus together." :lol:

 

 

:lol::lol::lol:

[mom2abcd]

We love getting them and we love keeping in touch with families from all the places we've lived so we send them.

 

It's a challenge to make them fun and interesting, especially as the kids are involved in more activities. For awhile it became a diary of sorts. We made notes of all the various sports, plays, lessons, etc. the kids were in and tried to squeeze them all in. I've finally convinced dh (and myself:o) that we can keep those lists for our record and just make them interesting for others.

 

We've done Questions with silly answers and the real one thrown in there. We've done bullet points under the kids' photos.... an acrostic thrown in there... a true/false "test"...

 

I'd love to hear some creative ideas you folks have seen for Christmas letters!

[LynnG in Arizona]

I've never sent one. (I no longer send cards either)

 

I don't care about getting them. When we do, I'm the one who scans them & gives dh a summary: "Bob got religion; Susan was in South America last summer; the Smiths are still boring; the Joneses are still perfect." Then into the recycling they go.

 

I'm not terribly keen on the Christmas family photos either. That goes straight into recycling as well.

 

And yes, in the time of fb and blogs, I don't see the point of this mass produced mailout that looks like something from the local realtor (he sends me one too, btw).....

 

Ouch. :(

[LynnG in Arizona]

I love Christmas letters. There are folks I care about all over the world but we are no longer in their immediate orbit. A flash between galaxies keeps us in touch.

 

We have two or three friends who NEVER write more than their name on the card. Never. While I think it is nice to know they are alive and still married (things you can't take for granted) I'd love to know what is going on in their lives. At least a few times in the last thirty years.

 

I guess I feel a little weird about sending them now. The venon some of you portray about receiving them is disconcerting. Do people really hate them...as in I wish you'd never even bothered? Do you not like hearing from other people AT ALL?

 

All a Christmas letter is is an invitation to be a part of our lives as we would love to be a part of yours. I do pray over the people on my card list and send many good wishes to them.

 

I could have written your post. You captured perfectly the way I feel about both sending and receiving Christmas letters/ pictures. We are a military family who have moved regularly. Part of being a military family is becoming extremely close with a family, and then moving away from one another and drifting apart over time. We no longer are in frequent contact with these families, but we sincerely love them and are genuinely happy to receive annual updates from them. I have been told that people feel the same about our Christmas letter and picture.

 

I do admit to cringing now every time I go to the effort, wondering if any of our recipients feel contemptuous and judgmental toward the update which I prepared with genuine love. :(

 

Yes, I know in a perfect world my letter would have been handwritten . . . but that's just sadly not going to happen. And you know what they say about perfect being the enemy of good, right?

Edited December 5, 2009 by LynnG in Hawaii

[hornblower]

Ouch. :(

 

Awww, I'm sorry. Really, it's US.

Many people love getting them & I'm sure yours are appreciated by your friends and family.

[ciyates]

While I don't do them, I love receiving them. There are many people that I wonder about throughout the year. FYI anyone on the board could send me and I promise not to through them away after a brief glance. ;)