When I send out Christmas cards, I always like to include some kind of newsletter because those are my favorite cards to get. But NOBODY does this anymore! Except old people. Only a few people who sent us cards enclosed a note of some sort. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE the photos, and you don't need a bunch of words to illustrate them. But I also want the hilarious braggy letters about the kids getting straight A’s and winning the t-ball tournament and traveling to Europe and winning chili cook-offs and all that stuff. I guess that’s one more thing to go to away in the advent of Facebook offering you an up-to-the-minute edited and glossy version of your friends’ lives.
Forget the first world issue of whether sending a letter AND a photo card is an indulgence in over the top narcissism, because I'm already entrenched in that. Personally, I face the dual impulse of NOT sending a letter because I’m word vomiting our family updates out on the blog so maybe this is totally redundant, and totally wanting to send a letter because I love that tradition and I want the keepsake myself.
The past few years, I’ve compromised by coming up with a year-end-summary to include that's not a bunch of paragraphs, and this year I tracked down an Etsy seller who made this super cute infographic thing for me. I'd love to send a card to everyone reading this, but just in case I don't have your home address, here ya go:
(By "tracked her down," I mean that I saw something like this on Pinterest but she didn't have it available in her shop, so I e-mailed her a special request and she agreed to do it. In my experience, Etsy sellers are the NICEST people. That includes My Crafty Cousin Amanda.)
I doubt that anyone receiving our cards actually enjoys the yearly recap as much as I enjoy creating it, but I actually would love to get one of these from each of my friends and family (you know, since I don't have Facebook to tell me this stuff!). Every year I slide our newsletter in a little scrap book with our photo card because I think it will be fun to look back on someday. I'm not sure if I'll stick with this format next year, or try to get creative with something else. I guess we'll just have to see what 2016 brings.
I love it - and missed it in our envelope! I hope we didn't accidentally throw it away. Glad you posted it here.
ReplyDeleteWe still seem to get a lot of newsletters. I love reading them. And I love getting cards in general. We have a few friends that have confessed to just buying one card and sending it to us because they want to stay on our card list. That cracks me up. (We don't drop people!)
I love getting your recap/note! Sometimes I write a recap on the back of our photo card but it is limiting to have such a small space.
ReplyDeleteLove it. I wish I were the type to get my shit together and send cards (yup, I'm one of those).
ReplyDeleteI love this! I held my breath to read what you wrote about Eliza and it was perfect. I love the wit and humor mixed in with the seriousness of life. And yes, the days are long but the years are short. Agreed.
ReplyDeleteI love your letter and want to go back to doing one. I've gotten suckered (lazy) in to just putting a little update on the back of the card, but there's so much more I want to say! In fact when I got yours I thought, "I should do something like this"
ReplyDeleteKeep the tradition alive!
I UH-DORE this. So awesome. Also, I'm amused that my daughter's TK-6 grade school has a grand total of 85 kids. Boondocks yo, I live in them.
ReplyDeleteI love your letters too!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely LOVE your newsletter! :) I do one every year but the fanciest I've gotten is having it printed on coloured paper. ;) I sometimes wonder if it's boring (since I don't have any kids to write about, I usually include a line each about what our parents, siblings & the nephews are up to) but I have been told people like it. One friend told me she is under strict orders to bring her copy home to her mother because SHE likes to read it!!
ReplyDeleteI love it Brooke! I only got 2 or 3 the past 3 years....where I remember growing up and my mother opening Christmas cards, and in each was a photo and a letter!! Times are changing!! Keep it going! I'm sad the day where no one sends Christmas cards anymore, and people just update their Facebook and call it a day :(
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