I got my first Christmas letter today and soon I will be receiving several every day. So in order to prepare for the Christmas letter season I have classified the four most annoying types of letters we seem to receive.
1. Braggy- if the words car, soccer goal, promotion, advanced level, or bright are mentioned in the letter, chances are it is a braggy letter
2. Schmaltzy- if the "non-writing" spouse adds a paragraph to the letter about how wonderful the "writing" spouse is then I call that schmaltzy. Typically when I read these I just want to respond, "get a room".
3. Cutsey- "written" by the dog or the toddler. As a caveat to the cutsey letters, some really are cute, others really are not. It is a fine line.
4. TMI- more than one page? Way too much information.
Don't get me wrong, I really do like to get these letters. But I do sometimes wonder at why people include what they include. Some of the kindest and humble people write very unkind and unhumble letters. And then mail these letters of not-much holiday cheer off sealed with a stamp of baby Jesus.
Annoying line in my letter today:
"We are so proud of our daughter, her teacher says she is performing on an advanced level in every area at school."
So, with this sentence I am left wondering a few things. Would this child's parents not be proud if she was performing, *gasp*, averagely? And what exactly is above average for a first grader and why is it important that all her parent's friends and family know this information? Should we too be proud, amazed or maybe jealous?
And this particular family is Christian, so of course there is the requisite line about God being good to them during the year. But once again I am left wondering was God good to them because their daughter is doing well in school and her husband got a raise? Seems a bit sad to imply that God wasn't good to those who have just average children and still make the same amount of money as last year.
So yes, I do have a love/hate relationship with Christmas letters. Except my own of course.
4 comments:
You have me laughing out loud! I admire your honesty and completely agree with your categories! HA HA - D.G.
This is hilarious! and oh so true. I appreciated your thoughts on the Christmas letter---and now I am going to re-read the one *I* sent out, with new eyes, HA!
I can't believe you didn't quote MY braggy, schmaltzy, TMI newsletter! Did it go straight into the trash? My child is so totally gifted, but I'm sure you already knew that. =) A.R.
After reading most of your posts for the last year, you are coming across as "someone that is not in a close relationship with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ." You seem angry and jealous.
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