Comments on: Oh No! The Generic Family Holiday Christmas Letters are Coming!

By: kelybreez

kelybreez — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:40:08 +0000

Oops. NOW I see that you already addressed this in your reply to pam at beyondjustmom above.

I apologize. Guess I should read all the comments first! How many times will I be guilty of that oversight in my life?!

By: kelybreez

kelybreez — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:38:01 +0000

Dude, ya don’t gotta talk about my Christmas letter in front of the whole world!

But, on another note…

Sounds like all us bloggers to me. We know how to sound self-deprecating, etc., so that it’s usually our foibles and faults that we talk about, etc., because that’s what’s popular right now — honesty, the mutual admission by all of us that we’re all less than perfect.

But most of us blog (if we’re honest) because we finally found a platform to hear ourselves talk all the time. And we think that everyone else will be highly interested in what we have to say!

Not that I want any of us to stop blogging. I love it. I just think there’s a lot more narcissism going around than we probably want to admit!

By: Jennifer@GDWJ

Jennifer@GDWJ — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 18:29:57 +0000

We have traditionally sent out a family letter, and I always hope it doesn’t come across like this. I suppose there is that risk, anytime we share our news with others. We do try to keep it light and fun. Ours is set up like a newspaper, and we call it “The Lee Bee.”

My pet peeve? Letters “written” by the family pet.

Good post, Bradley. Merry Christmas.

By: Dena Dyer

Dena Dyer — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 17:05:53 +0000

Bradley, I love this! I wrote a post about “How to Write an Offensive Christmas Letter” and talked about several of the same things. It’s so annoying when you get one of THOSE letters.

By: Candy

Candy — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 16:53:43 +0000

Can’t wait to read about this “bloody, mutilated animal!” Perhaps that’s why I haven’t sent the annual ennui since 2003. It was never as pretty as it appeared.

By: Diane L. Harris

Diane L. Harris — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:11:46 +0000

Bradley, I received one of Those Letters two years in a row from one branch of the family. After that, they either got The Message from someone else, thought better of forming the letter habit, or cut me out of the mailing list. For whichever reason the letters stopped, I’m grateful.

By: nAncY

nAncY — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 01:54:44 +0000

circling and poking

what a riot

By: shrinkingthecamel

shrinkingthecamel — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 00:24:49 +0000

OOOH… Good question, Pam! You should get together with Sam Van Eman at High Calling and talk about “Faking Authenticity!”

In my authentically humble opinion, The difference between blogging and an obnoxious Christmas letter is:

1. Bloggers are much more clever and creative in writing about those mundane details (hopefully). That’s why people would be interested in reading about them. It’s partly entertainment, right?

2. People choose to come to our sites. We don’t send our blogs to people who don’t want to read it (do we?)

3. Bloggers, being somewhat anonymous strangers, don’t have all that baggage that goes along with family perceptions (and trying desperately to overcome those perceptions!)

4. Blogging is designed to be interactive, so it encourages a response and feedback. The obnoxious Christmas letter is a one-way “All About Me” monologue.

5. For me, I tend to be more real, authentic, bad, skeptical, heretical, insecure self when I blog. It’s the oppposite of showing off. I want to show how ridiculuous we all really are. We can’t possibly take ourselves so seriously.

There’s probably more to it than that, but you’re question compelled me to come up with some good reasons.

Come back in a couple days to read the rest of this posting and see how I ended up handling it – a surprise ending, so to speak.

By: pam at beyondjustmom

pam at beyondjustmom — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:13:11 +0000

Great way to capture the “spirit” of those obnoxious letters. I must admit I enjoy writing the annual Christmas letter, and it’s hard to balance optimism what may sound like bragging. I’ll try to be especially careful this year, especially since there’s no way my letter will make it out before Christmas!

I wonder sometimes. . . what about blogging? Aren’t we guilty of the same blithering about the mundane details of life? What makes us think others are interested?