The New and Improved Holiday Letter
By Lucky Tomaszek
I remember opening Christmas cards as a teenager and being frustrated by the ever-growing number of holiday letters. You’ve probably received at least one yourself. They’re the form letters that run down the year in review on behalf of the sender. At that point in my life, I was only responsible for myself and the demands on my time were few. I was also a budding writer, in love with language and looking for any excuse to fill page after page with my every thought and feeling. I felt almost superior sending out my Christmas cards, lovingly scribed by hand. No form letters for me!
Then I got married and had a baby. The first year after Lena was born, I picked out beautiful cards and matching lined stationary so I could sit and write letters to everyone on my list about my little girl and the progress of the restoration of our 1880’s Victorian home. I got two of them done. Nine years later, the box of cards is still in with my wrapping paper collection.
The next year I did a little better. I actually signed the cards and mailed about half of them, but there was no personal note inside. I felt bad. My family and friends had spread across the country and I had become lax with my correspondence. As the New Year rolled by, I considered writing a holiday letter for the next year.
By the following year, Emma had joined our family and we had lots more to talk about. We also had great pictures of the girls wearing their pretty red dresses. Lena, now three, helped me decorate the envelopes that year. It was a great success. People actually took the time to call me and say how much they liked having something homemade included with the letter.
Well, that sealed it for me! If people liked homemade things, we could do that! I quickly developed a little routine for putting together our holiday letters that has lasted several years now. It’s not too difficult and our extended family loves getting them.
Making It Special. I start by finding a box of very basic holiday cards. I’m always careful not to buy anything that mentions Christmas specifically and I tend to lean toward something with a brief message about peace. I like to get a package of holiday-themed paper as well, and can almost always find something at a dollar store. We all sign the card by hand and then I type up the big letter, which follows the cosmically-developed format utilized universally.
We also make a small, flat, lightweight gift to include. We’ve come up with some great ideas. One of my favorites was the hand-painted Christmas tree decorations we made. I drew basic holiday shapes (stars, bells, candy canes) on card stock and then the kids went crazy with the water color paints. The two youngest couldn’t really fathom what they were painting yet, so they just filled the page with their favorite colors. Then I outlined them with bright Sharpey markers and cut them out. A hole-punch and some ribbon turned each creation into something really pretty, even though they started out looking a little questionable. We’ve also painted felt shapes and used Shrink-y Dink paper, which also turned out very cute. And the kids are always so touched to see their little treasures hanging up at a friend or family member’s house.
To complete our package, we include a picture of the kids, or sometimes a picture of the whole family. I like to print these out at home and save the money that it would cost for reprints. Nine-year old Lena loves to cut them out and stack them up for our big assembly line evening.
The kids and I then spend an hour or so together, loading the letter, gift and picture into the card and then stuffing the whole thing into the envelope. I address them and the kids put the return address labels and the stamps on. We make a big trip to the post office to mail them and then celebrate our hard work with a cup of cocoa and some of my sister’s homemade fudge. And while I still feel a little bad for sending out a massed-produced letter at the holidays, we all take comfort in keeping in touch. VS
