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Writing Holiday Lettersby Vicki Meade It's great to send news to friends and family for the holidays, but make sure your good intentions have the desired effect. Holiday letters should be brief and upbeat. Some formats you can use: The Family Resume. A quick update at a glance. Gives highlights in the lives of each family member. The Events Calendar. Like a family resume except it focuses on key dates instead of family members. It may include accomplishments, travel, or big changes like a new house, new grandchild, or job switch. The Personal Essay. A soul-searching approach that explores meaningful events of the past year. The Entertaining Letter. People love to receive these—as long as the letter really is funny. The best letters of this type combine irony and exaggeration to playfully highlight family failings and achievements. The Creative Letter. These may combine poetry, parody, unusual perspectives (the year from the point of view of your cat, dog, goldfish, sailboat), lists—e.g., takeoff of David Letterman's top 10 or “Twenty Secrets We're Telling You and Nobody Else.” Don' t boast. It's fine to convey accomplishments, but keep things in balance. Be humble and use touches of self-deprecating humor to let readers know you're not perfect (you' re human). Bragging is a way of insulting the less fortunate—is that what you want to do in your holiday letter? Don' t send bad news. If you must acknowledge a loss because it shapes your news for the year, cover it briefly but do not dwell on it. Better to announce bad news through a personal letter or call. Keep it short. One to two pages is plenty. If you write more than that, go back and see what you can take out. Chances are, you can easily cut 10%, and probably more. Make it readable and inviting. Use a clean, easy-to-read type font that is large enough (10 to 12 point). Allow adequate white space in the layout so everything isn't crammed together. Start each section with meaningful headlines (Dad is promoted; Fido gets a playmate). If you have a scanner, include a few family photos. You can find attractive holiday paper at office supply stores, but don' t use a color so dark the print is obscured. Keep your reader in mind. Write only about the people the bulk of your readers are likely to know. That means, stick with immediate family. Do not include news of Bob and Judy, with whom you attended college, if only 10% of recipients know who they are. It's boring. Follow the principles of good writing. Use short words, a natural tone, concrete details, strong verbs, and correct grammar and punctuation. Avoid typos, jargon, clichés, overuse of adjectives and adverbs, and the passive voice. Prune excess words and watch repetition and redundancy. Include a box with your contact information. This is a helpful reference for readers so they can capture your address, telephone number, and the e-mail address of each family member. |
Vicki Meade |