Enclosed with my Christmas cards for the last ten years or so has been a family Christmas letter in which I summarise the hatches, matches, dispatches, trials and triumphs of immediate family members. I have heard people scoff at these annual epistles by calling them "brag bulletins" and other derogatory names. To these people I say "Bah, Humbug".
When I look back at my collection of Christmas Letters I find that I have a neat summary of important family events for the last decade. If I continue the practice for another couple of decades I will have a rich resource to pass on to future generations who may not be simply interested in the dry Birth, Death and Marriage facts in my family tree but in our activities.
I must admit to not fully reading some of the Christmas letters I get as they are just too long. I love hearing of the doings of other families but prefer an "executive summary" rather than a novel. I edit, edit and edit again and make sure that my letter is no more than an A4 page in a font size that is readable.
As it's now 4th December I must away, reflect on the past year and write my Christmas Chronicle".
This post was written for the Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories and first published in 2010
2 comments:
I write a yearly Christmas letter also. I'd love to be able to send an individual letter to each person but that would take way too much time so I write letter to all. It is a nice way to review the year. I also make Christmas photo books where I include the letters with the photos. I give the books to our children.
http://leavesnbranches.blogspot.com/
I've never thought of the Christmas letter as a genealogical "document" before, but how true! Write on!
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