You might be wondering why I chose to write about the Christmas letter after Christmas. Because, my friends, believe it or not, I am convinced that now--while we are on our way to next Christmas--is the best time to begin the letter that will relate your year in review come next December.
Let me start off by saying that I love to get Christmas cards in the mail. The festive greetings always make me feel thought-of and loved. Plus, I love to look at the artwork; read the witty, sentimental, or poetic greeting inside; and see the cards all over my house--on top of the fridge, on the mantle, on top of the entertainment center, on top of the antique ice chest...I may even make a sort of garland out of them next Christmas. Yes, I love getting Christmas cards. But I love getting Christmas letters. The sad part is, very few people send them anymore.
So, my proposal to you is that in 2014, you resolve to write a Christmas letter. There are many fun, creative, and easy ways to do so--and many reasons to do so, as well. Below, I list just a few of them.
Why Write a Christmas Letter?
1. Reflection
Composing a Christmas letter allows you to reflect on your year--everything you have accomplished, hardships you have overcome, goals you have achieved, milestones you have reached, fond memories you have made. This fosters a sort of gratitude and a sense of pride and accomplishment. Generally, we focus on the good in a Christmas letter, so writing one can help us see the good that we may sometimes overlook in our lives.
2. Reference
If you keep one copy of every Christmas letter you write, it is easy to go back and find out what year you got your first dog, what year your best friend got married, what year you bought your first car--maybe even what your third child's first word was, etc. It ends up creating a little history of your family, updated yearly.
3. Memory Lane
It can be really fun to go back and read Christmas letters from years' past and remember the good times you have had with your friends and family. In fact--that would be a fun Christmas tradition. You could gather your family together on Christmas Eve and re-read at least one Christmas letter from the past. It would likely spark other memories you haven't thought of in a while!
4. Keeping in Touch
A Christmas letter can be a great way not only to let people know you are thinking of them at the holidays, but also to let them know of the major goings-on in your life over the last year. With Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and all the other social media we have at our disposal, we can easily take for granted that everyone we know knows everything we have going on. Read a Christmas letter or two. You might be surprised how much you didn't know about a friend or family member's past year.
How To Write a Christmas Letter
1. Chronologically
One way to go about the Christmas letter is to simply go through month by month and include the highlights of each month. Chronological letters are fairly easy to compose, because all you have to do is flip back through your calendar or planner and find the events you deem worthy of inclusion. To make it even easier, start early, in January.. As each month progresses, highlight, underline, or "star" any events you think you may want to include in your Christmas letter. At the end of each month, write a portion of your Christmas letter. This way, come December, your letter is already composed--and you composed it while all the events were still fresh in your mind.
2. Categorically
You can organize your Christmas letter by categories, such as Family, Community, Work, Travel, Fitness, Friends, Education, Goals, Home, etc. To choose your categories, think about the most important elements of your life. In my Christmas letter for 2013, I included three categories: Family, Friends, and Travel; Work and Community; and Fitness.
3. Poetically
This year, I got two Christmas letters formatted as poems. Both were acrostic poems and both rhymed! I was pretty impressed. I am not quite ambitious enough--at least not yet--to attempt this feat, but if you want to get creative and challenge yourself a little, a Christmas letter-poem might be the way to go. Here are some suggestions:
1. Write a Christmas letter using the same rhythm, rhyme scheme, and structure as "The Night Before Christmas," beginning, of course, with the line, "'Twas the night before Christmas..." You can start there, and work your way backwards through the year. (I'm pretty proud of this idea, actually, and might try it...)
2. Write an acrostic poem that highlights the year's milestones. Here are some phrases to get you started:
Christmas
Merry Christmas
Happy Holidays
Seasons Greetings
Ba-Humbug
Jesus Christ
Noel
Feliz Navidad
Happy New Year
Joy
Angels
Bethlehem
Santa Claus
North Pole
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