Is it common for your admission officer to handwrite to you saying happy holidays and mentioning things in your interview?

Having gone through this several times and with different children looking at different schools, I’d say it’s just indicative of the school culture or at least admissions. In some cases the child was admitted, others waitlisted and a some non-acceptances. The more personal the relationship developed with AOs definitely made an impact on how we as a family felt about schools.