Bah Humbug to Christmas Letters!

[curiouswombat]

What a Grey Day - to misquote Larry Grayson. It has been such a damp dark day today that I have not been able to drive without the car lights on all day. Talk about the long dark days up to Christmas - today it feels as though we are a good few hundred miles closer to the Arctic circle than we really are. And then there are the Christmas Letters.

You know the kind of thing that you write to people that you have known for absolutely years, but haven't seen for almost as long, and you mainly keep in touch by an annual missive? Even though you could probably keep in touch so much better if they would only e-mail - or give you their e-mail address so that you could e-mail them? And some of them used to send a photo-copied version, only now they print it - and STILL don't bother to change the name but just leave a blank space and write the name in so that it is absolutely obvious that it is just the same as everyone else they've ever met's copy?

Well I do have a sort of version of this - I write one letter, then copy and paste large chunks of it to form the basis of a whole lot of letters, and just add a few extras depending on who it is to. But this year I am feeling very 'Bah, Humbug' about the whole thing. Discussing this with teenage daughter over tea (or dinner, depending where you live, and how up-market you are!), we came to the conclusion that perhaps we should send everyone a letter which said 'We have had a good year, we’ve done a few things that you probably don’t even care about, and we had a holiday which I am not going to tell you about!!’ I could probably add, ‘and Katherine did so well in her GCSEs that I could gloat, but it would only annoy you.’ !!

Aren't I just the Spirit of Christmas? Why, you may well ask, would I not tell anyone about our holiday? Well - and don't tell anyone I know(!) at least any of our old friends from when we lived in Newcastle, but Katherine and I spent 2 whole weeks in Hexham when she finished her exams. Hexham is about 30 miles from Newcastle - but we didn't tell anyone apart from family, and didn't go visit any Godparents or anything, so that Kat could have a good flop -out. So now we can't mention it - as they will all be peeved if they know! And why was S.t C. not with us? Because he couldn't cope with the idea of being away from his internet broadband service for that long - although he did mutter something about not wanting the cat to have to go to the cattery - but we weren't fooled.

Will I really write them all a note as above? Will I ever get around to finishing putting up the decorations? Will I just go hide under a blanket until Christmas and birthday are over? For the answers to these questions, and more questions to answer tune in again next time to The World of the Curious Wombat!

Comments

[desdemonaspace]

My comprehension of the Spirit of Christmas involves trying to do too much in too short a space and feeling a little overwhelmed. The dark days don't help, either. (But we can take heart that it's only two more weeks until the solstice, and then the days start getting longer!) I know what you mean -- I stay in better contact with people halfway around the world who are on the interpipe, than with relatives ten miles away who never pick up a mouse or the phone.

If your daughter's GCSEs have anything to do with the oration she gave, everyone on your husband's f-list gloated along with you. You must be so proud of her!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Her exam results were very good - she basically got straight As in 12 subjects! We are very proud of her, especially as she is also a really nice person as well! Well I think so anyway!

And she got £20 worth of HMV vouchers for her oration - enough to buy a couple of CDs, so she was well pleased!

[ayinhara.livejournal.com]

I have been doing a Holiday Letter for many years. I used to use some type of festive stationery and, joy of joy for word processors, have a basic letter slightly customized for each intended recipient. Last year I changed my format. Since photography is one of my hobbies, I used an original photo for the front of a card and wrote a shorter annual letter to fill the inside. Playing with Photoshop to get the photograph makes the process more fun for me.

And that reminds me that I have to send out these cards by Monday. I guess that takes care of all the available time I have for today through Monday. Some years I do not manage to get the letter out in time for Christmas and it becomes a New Year's letter.