Christmas Letters

The challenge for today is history. It occurred to me that over the years our annual Christmas letters have become a small bit of our family history.

There have been changes to the traditional Christmas Letter. In the past each one was handwritten and mailed to the individual, usually enclosed in a Christmas card. When photo copying became state of the art, some folks were offended when they realized that everyone got the same letter and only the name was different. I do remember years of trying to add a personal note to each one. It went from copied letters to email, pdf files with photos, and I suspect soon, there will be audio and video attachments! With each stage folks rebel, and then soon it becomes mainstream.

In 1983 we made a change and Mr CH agreed to write the annual letter. He has a way with words and a good sense of humor. They became letters that were more than the usual "we did this, and then we did that". They became a hit with the recipients and the list grew longer.

This photo is a portion of the second annual letter. (Go large to view) Expressions have changed and vehicles have changed. This was the year we bought our first brand new vehicle after going through a few $100 vehicles that left us stranded on the road. Mostly, the annual Christmas letter is filled with cheer, so the history may be a little skewed. However, I'm not sure the people who receive the annual letters want to hear all our woes. A couple of years ago I scanned the letters and put them into a photo book, now a little family history book!

Today marks the death of Nelson Mandela - someone who left an impact on the world. After being imprisoned for 28 years he held no malice. Our lives are rather ordinary in comparison, but I hope we can be remembered as a family who forgives and has grace and compassion for others.