Giveaway: Why My Christmas Cards Will Be Mailed in August

Sadly we don’t receive any Christmas newsletters but some very dear friends of ours do and they showed us a doozy of a letter detailing how much money they made, the fact they were putting an extension on their house and how much each item they were adding would cost and detailed what they were doing with the money left to them by a recently deceased relative it was quite the interesting read!!

The worst holiday letter I ever received was filled with political propaganda. How they worked on so and so campaign and all the reasons that we should support their political views. It was insulting to people who opposed these views. At the end was Happy Holidays!

The worst holiday letter I’ve ever received was from an old boyfriend, detailing his HORRIBLE divorce and how he and his young kids were looking for “a new mommy”…awful on its own, but also sent to me when I was happily married. It felt like a combination horror movie and personal ad. Guess it showed me that I was right in breaking up with the guy way back when!

On my to-do list – call the photographer.

Thanks for the reminder!!
Jennifer McIntyre
@atthebluebarn

My aunt and uncle send one every year. First, they cover a wide array of subjects but it’s all together in one big paragraph. So hard to read! Second, it’s a little overly righteous and a little too much in-your-face religious for me.

How cool–I could win them on my babies’ birthday!!

So I think the worst I have experienced is from a friend I rarely see and they are always about four pages long, but not very interesting. Not nearly as exciting as these others!!

If I hear one more fact about “little Ricky” I think my ears will begin to bleed. Seriously, every year it is all about little Ricky doing this and little Ricky doing that. My husband will randomly throughout the year pop up with ” I wonder how little Ricky is doing.” Enough already.

My uncle sends doozies. Usually how everything wrong in his life is caused by lyme disease. Please check for ticks. One year the pets warned us of the danger of lyme disease. Got the message. Thanks.

What’s that saying – “80% of the people you know don’t care about your problems and the other 20% are actually glad that you have them?” Folks should keep that in mind when sending out Christmas cards and holiday letters! The worst one I ever received was from the sister of a dear friend of mine who had recently passed away. Apparently, she thought her holiday letter was the perfect format to “vent” about how really terrible their relationship had been since early childhood. (I guess it saved her from paying for years of therapy!) She managed to mention every detail of all of the petty things that her dead sister had done to her throughout her life. Bitter? My friend was no longer even here to defend herself! Thanks, now my memories of her are so much better. She also included a scattering of photos (of herself!) and ended with, “May you and your family experience the joy and peace of Christmas and have a Happy New Year.” I’m just glad she’s not MY sister!

The worst Christmas letter we receive is VERY, VERY bragadocious…full of details about unending career success, overachieving children, fantastic vacations, and the occasional medical mishap complete with all the latin terminology. What drives me crazy is that the tense of the newsletter is never consistent throughout. Portions of it are written in the third person, as if they have actually hired someone outside of the family to write this pap. But then other paragraphs are written in the first person. Pu-leazzze. If you really were so perfect, you would have paid better attention in your grammar classes. Pick a tense, and stick with it! BTW, Jeanne Matheson’s post about the 80/20 rule is a gem! Good rule to live by!

I once got a holiday letter from one of my dear friends that detailed just how awful her year had been. The list of unfortunate events included, but wasn’t limited to, an affair, a private investigator, a whistle-blowing at work, a media frenzy involving two of the above, a divorce, a bad divorce attorey, a move and the death of a pet. Ahhhh! Thank goodness she only sent 4 copies of her holiday letter to her inner-circle friends, but it was both the saddest and funniest update letter I’ve ever gotten.

BTW, things got MUCH better for her the next year!

Well, we’ve only gotten a few letters throughout the years and one of the letters we get, I actually look forward to getting. (written by an English teacher – go figure) My “letter” of choice is a bit different from the others listed. I think mine would be the one I don’t get. I enjoy getting letters and cards from relatives especially during the holidays but rarely as many back. I wish I could hear from everyone – the good, the bad or even the ugly.

Hm, we don’t get holiday letters and after reading about some of the others, I think I’m glad about that! I really do enjoy getting photo cards from friends & family though. Brief, to the point, & I get an updated photo each year. Win-win!

I send a letter every year religiously, and over the years I have learned what NOT to reveal. Try to keep it upbeat and happy and always incl a pic of the grandchildren. Last year I made them myself, NOT doing that again. I am ambitious, but I have learned my lesson. I hope I win. Thanks for the give away.

The worst Christmas letter was from a friend I’d gone to school with. I NEVER thought she would send one, but send, she did! Living here in the snowy, cold, Texas Panhandle, it was frustrating to read about her family’s wonderful, warm lifestyle. The glossy picture of them relaxing by their POOL in sunny Florida topped it all off!