Christmas Letters

I've been working on our Christmas Letter on and off for about a week. The first few times I took a crack at it got me all down and depressed. Sometimes I don't know where that line of being Positive (and grateful) and Sincere (and grateful) but Honest (and not ungrateful). See, we've had a lot of tough stuff this last year. And a LOT of blessings, sure. But in this economy, at this time of the school year, with a T.W.O year old (Totally Willful and Obstinate), I had to admit I was having a hard time getting the tone right. The best I could get was Weary. So I came up with some different approaches to the letter:

Come up with a list of questions (get to know you, or favorite things, or even Christmas themed) and have each family answer them.

Forget the narrative letter and go with bullet points. It's so much more factual and less emotional (a good thing if you are trying to avoid emotions).

And instead of doing a year in review, do Facebook Status Review. How about a Christmas letter entirely in FB updates??? This one didn't work for me as I'm not an FB regular, but I'd like to read a letter like this.

In fact, I LOVE Christmas letters, and not just because it means fun mail instead of ads and junk. I love the art of reflecting on our lives and the act of reaching out to friends old and new, far and near. We got our first in the mail today and I can't wait for more!

Today I sat down and found my tone and now it just needs to be proofed by the detail man husband guy. And there is the picture, and the printing, and the stuffing, and the addressing, and posting... it's amazing I ever get any out. Mailing things is NOT my strong suit.