Miscellany: A Christmas Newsletter

One of the most curious Christmas traditions is the Christmas newsletter. You've probably read a few of these sometimes long, sometimes obnoxious little sheets of paper stuffed into the annual Christmas cards people send out. They invariably drone on about family details no one cares about, and are tossed quickly. When my family decided to start sending them out in our cards, I was understandably worried about the embarrassment we might be bringing upon ourselves.

That is, until I learned I'd get to write the newsletter.

From the beginning, I knew I wanted to write something a little different. Rather than focus on our family, I thought I'd feature all the places and people we visit in any given year. While most people's eyes glaze over when faced with paragraph after paragraph of how Donna Jean graduated from so-and-so, or how Mary Anne lost her new job, I figured people like seeing pictures of faraway places, even if they don't even remember who we are.

The newsletter was a big hit, and it's now a continuing Christmas tradition. So every year, I take out the photo albums, see where we've been, and start writing.