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Holiday letters: An inexpensive alternative to Christmas cards, and more welcome than you might realize
Asha Dornfest of Parent Hacks | December 16th, 2008 - 2:28 PM
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Ah, the holiday letter. That self-congratulatory Christmas card photocopy supplement crowing about the family’s Nobel- and Olympic-level accomplishments over the past year. So ostentatious. So presumptuous. And so fun to read!
C’mon, admit it! You love holiday letters! I know I do. I can’t wait to hear about how much the kids have grown, and how the job’s going, and what the adventures have been. If the sender threw in a few pictures, all the better.
In my experience, very few holiday letters actually fit the obnoxious stereotype. After all, the people who send us cards ARE our friends, and it’s nice to read a little more about them than “Sincerely, Bill and Janet.” I especially love getting letters from the folks I hear from once a year. Some of my oldest friendships are sustained by the annual holiday letter, and that’s just fine with me.
A couple of years ago I sent out a holiday letter in lieu of cards. I had a great time taping a collage-like collection of photos, ribbons, fortune cookie inserts to a blank piece of printer paper. I then hand wrote a letter in the spaces that were left on the page. I took the whole thing to Kinko’s, made 100 copies onto colored paper, and only paid about $10. I didn’t even stuff the letters into envelopes. I added a personal note to each, tri-folded them, secured them with stickers, stamped and addressed them and sent them out.
The response was tremendous. I included my email address on the letter, and the replies poured in. People were delighted by my tongue-in-cheek retelling of our experiences that year, and they loved the opportunity to catch up. (Not EVERYONE follows my Twitter feed, after all.) And the original made a great addition to the family memory box.
If you’re pondering a bulk card purchase, consider writing a holiday letter instead. Get the kids involved! Even a reluctant spouse will be willing to add a signature. You’ll have fun writing it, and your recipients will love it, too.
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[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHoliday letters: An inexpensive alternative to Christmas cards …Here’s a quick excerptAh, the holiday letter. That self-congratulatory Christmas card photocopy supplement crowing about the family’s Nobel- and Olympic-level accomplishments. [...]
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHoliday letters: An inexpensive alternative to Christmas cards …Here’s a quick excerptAh, the holiday letter. That self-congratulatory Christmas card photocopy supplement crowing about the family’s Nobel- and Olympic-level accomplishments. [...]
One year (before kids) we wrote a snarky, self-deprecating Christmas letter that chronicled our year’s low points (hate letters from the neighbors regarding our lawn, plumbing disasters, social gaffes) as a cautionary tale. The big lesson of the year was “when the draining washing machine causes the bathtub to fill with water, DO NOT flush the toilet.” (Coincidentally, that was the year we got to know our plumbers on a first name basis…)
We loved the responses that year, but didn’t want to make it our annual theme. This year I think (can you tell we’re procrastinators?) we’ll include photos of the kids and family favorites from 2008 (activities, events, books, music, movies, and maybe a recipe or two).
The only award we’ve earned this year is “the official award for most belated wedding present ever” (3 years, so ever may only apply to the post-Pony Express period- or maybe we just operate on frontier era time).
Happy holidays, Asha!