Christms Letter Time

Keeping the Christmas letter easy...

This time of year tends to send us moms into a frenzy of baking, decorating, shopping, wrapping, socializing, and the all-American tradition of writing the family Christmas letter. I’ve seen them written from the children’s perspective and the dog’s perspective. We receive a few every year that are a full blown newsletter complete with columns, headlines, pictures, and yes, several pages to review the perfection of each child. We even received one sized in a 3”x 8” book format. Hmmm. Not my style. I tend to see myself as a creative person, but really now, don’t we all have kids who we think are the greatest? And what do you do with those letters later?

As our kids get older, our experiences broaden, life happens and sometimes, I just don’t think it’s necessary to divulge all the ups and downs our family had for the year. Last year was one of those years. So instead of a full blown letter, I spent ten minutes and created a book mark size review of our family. I listed each family member, wrote three, one - three word bullet points about each one, wished everyone a joy-filled new year and sent them out with pictures. Funny thing was I received more feedback than I ever had in the past. Our friends told us it was amazing how we could condense our year down to three bullet points per family member but from that, they had a good overview of what happened in the Nelson household.

It was so quick and simple, that I’m doing it again this year. If you are finding you want to keep it simple, ask each family member to list three things they want to share about their year, and then, type it up and you’re done. I’d rather be eating frosted Christmas cookies and wrapping gifts than laboring over a Christmas letter! But I promise you, if you send me a long-winded Christmas letter, I will read it while I drink my eggnog.

Much joy in your day!
Anne