<p>I personally enjoy writing as well as receiving such newsletters, enjoy hearing the details of people’s lives, both near and far. Even for those I see regularly, I learn something new about their approach to life and activities unmentioned in conversation. But I have a nagging sense of being a pain or braggart when I send out such missives, though I try for a philosophical and/or humorous approach. Opinions?</p>
<p>I really enjoy receiving such letters! And I love hearing about successes as well as disappointments. I don’t find it to be bragging at all…Just sharing!</p>
<p>I love them too. It makes me sad that people are reluctant to share good news. If someone is close enough to me to put me on their list, then I’ll surely be overjoyed at their good fortune.</p>
<p>I like to get them. </p>
<p>I start to like them less, though, if they go to a second page single-spaced, and/or if they read like a “Chances” thread.</p>
<p>I like them best when they reveal something of the thinking, personality and inner life of the writer, as opposed to being an unrelenting narrative of events and successes.</p>
<p>I enjoy receiving them, but I have not and will not start writing any letter soon.</p>
<p>We still send one out each year. Or I should say “I” enjoy sending and receiving them. My DW leaves it to me. We try to stay away from sounding like bragging too much in our letters. For many years, we would put a slant into each year’s letter just to make it different. One year the letter was like a multiple choice test in which the answers let the reader discover what we were up to. One year was in newspaper format. Last year, we did one that looked and sounded like the National Inquirer, that was fun. Our lives generally are too boring to simply list the happenings and accomplishments of the year. We always include a picture or pictures. However, I noticed in the last two years, our letters are starting to look like the ones my parents got when I was a kid, with more of the “who died this year” type of inputs. I am out of creative juices this year and may just send a picture and a very short 1/2 page synopsis of what and where everyone is. Got any good ideas?</p>
<p>I like them too, but chuckled at the comment “as long as they are not like the “chances” threads.” How true!</p>
<p>Another yes vote here. Love them, as long as they aren’t too over the top. I did one once, but that was years ago.</p>
<p>Hey, just got back from the mailbox, and there’s my first Christmas letter of the year! : )</p>
<p>I do one every year because our family and friends are scattered far and wide. My letters are always praised, because I do NOT just focus on the good…I believe in sharing the reality of our family. My family has a tradition where we have the unveiling of my sister’s boss’s (now es-boss) (a woman) Christmas letter. We all howl at the superlatives and the perfection achieved by each family member. The husband lulls them to sleep playing his Indian flute! </p>
<p>My one fear is that as my husband and I age, the letter sounds like the dreaded medical reports we all get every year.</p>
<p>Okay so you didn’t like my Christmas letter. My family has been doing them for 40 years. I have the ones my grandmother did in the 1960s and they are a HOOT!</p>
<p>I always find a dilemma, do I put in the absolute truth? Grandma has dementia, little brother is drinking again? Or what is the absolute truth is Junior DID become an NMSSF? No, I just say Grandma is aging, little brother is active, and Junior is a good student. How’s that for hyperbole?</p>
<p>I really need to put a disclaimer at the beginning: have you met me? I do tend to put a spin on things…</p>
<p>By the way I just received one in the mail today and I swear to you it was ALL ABOUT corn and how corn is pollinated as the person is an expert in corn sex.</p>
<p>Grandma’s Worried Daughter and Junior’s Proud Mother</p>
<p>I like to get them. </p>
<p>I send them, but ours are pretty short. We make our own cards - themed to whatever seems appropriate for a particular year. This year I’m going to use the Carnegie Tartan as a background. The rule is that it has to fit on one sheet and a quarter of that sheet (sometimes more) is devoted to pictures.</p>
<p>We send them every year. We have lived in various places because of professional moves, and we have far-flung friends, former students, and our own mentors. It is a way to stay in touch and share our news. We do not tell anything which would not be discussed or reported in front of the relevant family member to friends and neighbors. We enjoy hearing what folks are doing, and while a pretty card is nice, without personal information, it is a disappointment. Some friends send letters which we save, a snapshot of their lives, just as we hold on to pictures. It is a special time of year.</p>
<p>Most folks I know who are under 70 email holiday “letters”. Family and friends age 70 and over still send them by mail. :D</p>
<p>One year a friend sent us one, in which she summarized her family’s entire year in the form of “The Night Before Christmas”. It was very entertaining- what talent to be able to do something like that!</p>
<p>I enjoy reading them, even the annoying ones that are braggy, but I recognize them for what they are- braggy. They’re still fun.</p>
<p>My BFF’s wife does a great job mixing the good and the not so good. I always enjoy it.</p>
<p>I’m just about to send out ours…now realize the bar is pretty high elsewhere (in the style of the National Enquirer? Multiple choice questions? Those are funny!). Think it’s too late for drastic editing though…lol.</p>
<p>Ugh oh, am I the only one? I throw them in the garbage without reading them! I figure if I’m not in touch with these “friends” all year, we’re not close enough for me to know every elective and extracurricular that little Suzy and Johnny are involved in. I’m more interested in what my friends are up to, as opposed to what their kids are doing. (half of whom I’ve never met) We send to only out of town friends and include a photo of our kids with a handwritten personal note including something that would be of particular interest to them.</p>
<p>Mine always include a personal line or two. We don’t just talk about kids. I tell them what kind of projects I’m working on. My husband may mention his cancer research findings. Last year a fair amount of space went into dh whining that both boys are taller than him. (Along with photos of everyone with rulers, comparing heights.) </p>
<p>One of our friend’s teenage daughter writes a large portion of their letter. She’s a hoot. I love reading what she has to say about the parents.</p>
<p>We try to send one out… The rule for bragging is don’t include
anything that they could find out by Googling you. We intersperse
pictures so that there’s not too much text.</p>
<p>The back is usually something written by the younger son - often
funny, always offbeat.</p>
<p>But, feel free to throw it out, my feelings won’t be hurt.</p>