There are two things that make me feel like a boring person. Actually, there are more than two, but the ones that come to mind this time of year are writing a Christmas letter and reading everyone else’s.
When I read all those newsy holiday letters, I think the writers must have had more days since last Christmas than I had, and apparently more energy and ambition as well. When I write my own letter, I come to the painful realization that the year has flown by again, I’ve been terribly busy, and not a thing worth mentioning has happened. So this year, instead of writing a Christmas letter, I’m going to tell you how you should write yours, in part so that I won’t feel like such a dull person if I read it.
DO make notes of activities and events throughout the year that you can include in your newsletter. And DO remember where you put them. I didn’t DO this, and that’s one reason why there isn’t a Rosby family Christmas letter this year.
DO be an early bird. The earlier you get your Christmas letter out, the more you can enjoy the holiday season. At least that’s what I’ve heard.
DON’T forget that everyone A through Z on your Christmas card list is getting the same letter. DO be careful about including sentiments you don’t feel toward all of them, for example, “We’d love to have you visit.”
DON’T brag. Times are hard. DON’T make it worse by boasting about your Caribbean Cruise, especially if you didn’t actually go on one.
DON’T forget the bad news. The only people who want to hear that your life is perfect are your parents and they know you well enough to know when you’re exaggerating. If you make your life sound too good, you make the rest of us jealous, and that is not an appropriate feeling to have during the holiday season.
DO keep it brief. Your Christmas letter should be the trailer, not the whole movie. Write more than one page, and your letter will look like work to read. Your reader may set it aside with the intention of getting to it after the busy holiday season is over. But then it could get tossed out with the wrapping paper and they will never know that, against my good advice, you invited them to visit.
DO “introduce” if you mention people some of your readers may not know. For example, “We went to Bill and Ann’s for Thanksgiving,” should be expanded to “Bill is Nick’s cousin who moved here from Phoenix after he met Ann on the Internet. Nick is our next door neighbor who is married to Ann’s sister Arlene who worked with me at the first job I had when we moved here in 1997.” Maybe that’s too much introduction. But you get the point — if you made it this far.
DO find ways to personalize your letter. Some people still feel slighted when they receive a Christmas form letter rather than a personal letter. These are generally people who have more time on their hands than the rest of us. You can placate them by hand writing a short personal note at the bottom of each letter, something like “Merry Christmas. The way my life has been, you’re lucky to be hearing from me at all.” If you still don’t feel like your letter is personal enough, try enclosing a lock of hair or your child’s tooth.
(DO send your Christmas greetings to drosby@rushmore.com. No teeth or hair please.)
