Faith, hope and family intertwined on the Golden Plains

The last of the Christmas cards, holiday greetings, seasonal salutes, whatever you want to call them will be arriving in the next two days. (Or they'll be showing up in the mail for the next week if you send them out on Christmas Eve like me.)

Inside many of those cards will be the traditional Christmas letter. The letter serves as a summary of the past year, catching everyone up to date on what has (or in some cases hasn't) gone on with the entire family.

I actually appreciate a good Christmas letter. One that gives a brief synopsis of the past year. One that reminds me of the names of each child in that family along with their current age. One that recalls the profession of each spouse and the grade of each child, because once again, I can't remember from year-to-year. Do you see a trend here?

But there is a fine line that people walk who send out Christmas letters. It's a fine line between recalling and boasting, between rehashing and bragging. While you want to keep everyone up-to-date and list a few accomplishments, some try to cram a little too much onto this decorative paper -- and they cross that line.

With five children and even more numerous animals, I'm lucky to send out Christmas cards and packages, hence the mailings on Christmas Eve. I've never gotten around to writing a Christmas letter but my husband and I have began discussing next year's letter, figuring we'll need this much time to get it all together.

Rather than the standard update, we plan to be a little more creative and take it completely over the top -- just to see if anyone notices.

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Little Johnnie played basketball this past sports season. He's rather large, if you know what I mean, so he played center. Essentially, he just stood in the middle of everyone with his arms in the air and actually blocked a couple of shots. Now, we're just sitting by the phone, waiting for the NBA to call.

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A common Christmas letter mistake is starting with the statement, "Nothing has changed over the past year" or "We didn't really do anything," yet the letter rambles on for two or three, single-typed pages.

Something had to have happened or you'd be dead. Just pick a highlight from the past year and run with it for a paragraph.

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Bob turned 40 this year and we celebrated with a surprise party. Only three people showed up, but, on the bright side, I got the entire house cleaned. Hopefully, the house will stay that way until his 45th party and maybe we'll have more friends by then.

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That concept can be taken too far by those who hit not only the highlights of the year, but also the everyday mundane happenings. Unless I'm talking to you once a week, or even once a month, the Christmas letter is not the place to give me a day-by-day accounting of your life.

***

While I'm off teaching middle school, Marcia is home-schooling the three boys and here's a run-down of their curriculum for the school year thus far: Middle East politics, French dining, Biblical clothing customs, silver polishing techniques, aardvark eating habits.... (The column has officially run out of room for this concept.)

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But my all-time favorite Christmas letters are the realistic letters, where the writers actually admit that the past year wasn't all that great. Sure, we want to hear about the good times, but the not-so-good-times can be just as informative.

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We lost a grand total of three dogs this past year. They kids have become very adept at the graveside services and our backyard cemetery plot is become quite a decorative. We've decided not to name our next pet right away, so the kids don't become as attached. However, the cows will remain on a first-name basis despite their future as our dinner.

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Aside from my proposal for a letter as presented here, there are two final alternatives to the traditional Christmas letter.

Many have forgone sending a letter or card all together, instead notifying everyone via e-mail that a website with their Christmas letter in on-line. This saves money since there are no stamps involved and time since there is no addressing of the envelopes necessary. But an on-line letter still leaves the door open for an excessive, rambling letter and can take it one step further with an increase in the number of pictures included.

Another option was used this past year by some family friends. They bypassed the Christmas card and sent Happy Mid-February cards. In the end, they kept the accompanying letter short and sweet. After all, they only had two months of the current year to summarize.

-- Ronda Graff may someday send out Christmas letters, but realizes with her large family that it could turn into a small book.