OMG – Wednesday’s writing prompt for Holidailies is… “Write the family newsletter that you’d never dare send.”
I love this. What a fun writing prompt. Immediately my mind started swirling, but the problem is, I am not really gonna post something that I wouldn’t “dare send.”
I have to admit… I am not a family newsletter fan. Truthfully, as hard as I try to interpret the little pieces of bragging as merely informative… I have yet to read a humble family newsletter that has ever come my way. And, some of these newsletters come from EXTREMELY nonbragging households.
Thus, I have some tips on how to be a bit more humble about your holiday newsletter this season… a newsletter that friends and family will look forward to reading for years to come.
The Dos and Don’ts of Holiday Newsletters
By Napmom
Don’t say… Lulu has been continuing in theater this year. Always wanting to be the center of attention… she landed the starring role as Alice in her summer play. Girl Scout is going well; she is the only scout in her troop to earn her bronze award so far, the highest ranking Junior Scout award. Middle school has been fabulous. As always, she was on the honor roll this marking period (taking ALL advanced classes) and was so happy to see her name mentioned in the paper. We are so proud of her.
Instead, try… Lulu has been continuing in theater this year. She had a blast participating in Alice in Wonderland play through her summer camp. As one of the older kids at the summer camp, she was given a larger speaking part this year… and she really enjoyed the challenge. Girl Scouts is going well. Most of the troop is working towards earning their bronze award (a community service based award)… making blankets and toys for local homeless animals. The transition to middle school has been great (yikes). She has been trying to keep her chattering to a minimum and had lots of great work in her portfolio which she showed to us during the Student Led Conferences last month. We are so proud of her!
Don’t say… This Fall brought on a sudden surprise… A NEW HOME! When I saw this home, in this community, for this price… we couldn’t turn it down. It is in one of the few water privileged communities in the vicinity that also includes a beach… meaning that the kids will spend their summers with sand between their toes when they aren’t water tubing on the river. We have been down to the beach a few times and Bro now asks for, “Beach? Beach?” on a regular basis. We hope that you can stop by to visit this summer. Pack your bathing suit!
Instead, try… This Fall brought on a sudden surprise… A NEW HOME! When I saw this home, in this community, for this price… we couldn’t turn it down. It is a split foyer style house… meaning that I’ll gain even MORE weight this year because I won’t be climbing up and down the stairs all day long. We are very excited to have a yard to run and play in and hope to enjoy the water access during the summer. Even though we lovingly refer to our new home as a “bungalow,” the Christmas tree is up in the front window… and it is starting to feel like home! We hope that you can stop by for the “Grand” tour sometime soon; we’ll have hot apple cider waiting!
Let me break it down to you in a chart style…
See the difference?
Disclaimer: For some reason, I don’t put “blogs” into the same category as family newsletters. (I really think that it is fabulous that your kid can pee in the potty and mine can’t - seriously, I’m actually interested in this stuff… keep feeding me this kind of information. And, I was over the moon thrilled when your shy(ish) son got the most improved award – seriously, I was so proud of him… his beaming smile… priceless.) In blogs you get the bad and the good… most of the mom-driven blogs I read are blogs of the great achievements as well as some hardships. I don’t perceive blog achievements as bragging… I don’t know why.
Now I’ll know for sure which of my friends read my blog, because they’ll be sure to NOT include their holiday newsletter in my Christmas card this year.
If you are still receiving holiday newsletters, Elbowglitter has a fabulous holiday newsletter game that she mentions in the last paragraph of this post. (Example, "Every time someone brags about their child, drink. If someone brags more about one child than another, drink.") I'd play, but I probably won't get many newsletters this year {{wonder why}}... and I'm pregnant.
What are your thoughts on holiday newsletters?
3 comments:
Ok....so I'm going to email you my Christmas letter ahead of time so you can tell me if I'm a pompous brat :) I honestly don't get that many Christmas letters but as last year was the first year I sent cards...that might be why. I got lots of good comments on last year's, and I'm SURE it was bragging cuz I'd just had a baby, lol....but maybe people were just being nice ;)
ps. Thanks for encouraging me to discuss potty issues on my blog :)
My feeings on Christmas letters is my holidailies entry for tomorrow:
http://www.funnytheworld.com/2009/Dec/10.htm
I LOVE the Christmas newsletters.. Having been on this planet for many more years than some and having been associated with the military for so many years, I have friends all over the country I hear from once a year.. I really do look forward to them.. I HATE getting cards from their survivors saying they passed away during the year, but some say we are older than dirt and should expect to be dropping off...
That said, how about a picture of the Christmas tree in the new living room.. from inside and outside?
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