Christmas Mail

A very old Christmas gift. dwm

 Thursday was National Letter Writing day and I didn't mention what might be the most popular time and reason to write these days, it's when we sit down to write the family holiday newsletter.

 Yesterday morning I dropped our Christmas cards into the mailbox in front of the post office.  It's the earliest I had them ready to go.

 I won't speak for the people on our mailing list on how they react when the card reaches them.  It's fun to receive the card and the usual letter that comes along sharing how the sender is doing and what they did throughout the year.

 Most of us include highlights, not lowlights from the past year.  We don't want to revisit the year's bad times unnecessarily but lives have both and this may be the opportunity to let friends and family know of a difficulty you had or are still handling.

 As cards arrive, I check for address or email updates.  Most of the people on our list are people that send us cards.  There are some family members who don't send cards but since they are family they stay on our list.  A couple years ago a family member dropped off when the card came back from the U.S. Postal Service with no forwarding address, oh well.

Writing the letter is collaborative.  It's important that all members of the household agree on newsletter content and photos before mailing.  One strange thing in the writing process is that it is more difficult than putting blog posts together when it comes to pictures and where to place them.

I can place a paragraph next to a picture but if I want to end a paragraph and create a new one, the software pushes me below the photo, leaving empty space.  I could use a different software package to make picture placement easier but then there is another hurdle.  For now I'm reasonably happy with how the letters look.  We're less wordy than we used to be, keeping the 'news' down to one page.

Speaking of photos, the one at the top of this blog takes me back to a very early holiday memory.  I was probably in first or second grade when Dad and I went shopping to get a present for mom.  We went downtown to Bostwick's, a locally-owned department store where we often shopped.

This candle was on display.  The price was right and I thought it was something mom would like.  Whether she liked it or not, she put it on display every Christmas for the rest of her life.  After she passed, the candle joined the holiday boxes in our house. 

It occurs to me that as we get older, it might be a good idea to share a Christmas memory in our letter.  It might be an effective way to share our holiday traditions.