I love getting Christmas cards. Well, I love getting mail. But knowing it's Christmas letter season has me running out to the mailbox to see who loved me enough to write me and send a picture.
As I review the years and the Christmas letters and photos I've read, I have created a list of Do's:
At the top of the list is: Put your contact information on every piece of mail--your name, mailing address, email address and phone number.
If the whole purpose of Christmas cards is to stay in touch, then contact information is actually the most important part of the letter. Some people put their mailing address as a return address on the envelope and that is it. If the envelope gets separated from the letter then contact may be broken. If you finish your letter with your name, addresses, and phone number, then your recipient can throw away the envelope and your contact info remains intact.
Next idea: The Christmas photo is important--if you can get it together enough to have one. Part of the idea of staying in touch is being able to recognize your friends next time you see them. Adults don't change as much as children, so I think a photo is particularly important for children.
There is room for a short greeting on the Christmas photo. Instead of merely wishing your friend a Merry Christmas, see you if you can also include your contact information.
This year I added our contact information to our photo. I used an online photo company, Winkflash, and one of their stock designs had room for a "Merry Christmas", all our names (and we are seven) and four lines of contact information--as well as three photos. I was very pleased with the result.
The only problem is not Winkflash's fault. We're closing on a house next week and when we move in January, my photo will have an obsolete mailing address. While I had prepared the photos early, I had not foreseen a new address on our horizon. The good news is my email address and phone number will remain the same, and they are on the photo as well.
Third: Send Something. Some people don't like to write a Christmas letter. They worry they have to be funny or creative and so decide to send nothing at all. Send something. If you want to keep in touch with the friends of your past, then send them something. Send a photo all by itself. If it has contact information, then you have accomplished your goal. You have visually updated your friends and let them know where you are.
Fourth: Reference your Blog. If you include your blog in the Christmas letter, then those who really want to know what you're doing and what's on your mind, will read your blog. Just make sure you post often enough to keep them looking.
Fifth: Use Labels. If you take the time one year (try to do it early in the year, not right before the holidays when time gets busier) to put your addresses in Excel, then you will be happy come Christmas card time.
Print out your Excel list and as Christmas letters come in, check the accuracy of your list with the incoming address. If I get a Christmas card from someone not my list, I can add them easily.
I also keep my Friends and Family list by my calendar and throughout the year I am updating it in pencil, and can input the information when I have time.
Once the initial information is in Excel, it is easy to update. And when it is time for your Christmas mailing, just put the addresses on labels. Print out your return address on labels too. No one minds if each envelope is hand addressed. These are your friends. They are just glad to hear from you. And they are really glad to get your contact information. :)
What do you think? Do you have any more suggestions for making Christmas Card Connections easier and better?
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Sunday, December 3, 2006
MyLife-The Warning Cough and a Christmas Tree
Today's topic is the warning cough that proceeds vomiting. So you are warned.
I am feeling grateful for the warning cough that proceeds vomiting because I have been listening for it day and night for the last 36 hours as the flu makes its way through my family.
It started with my 7 year old who caught the flu bug at night. He had one vomiting episode that night and two the next day. The warning huffing cough helped me keep the mess at a minimum.
Then my 10 year old caught it. She's good at catching her own messes, so I was mere moral support.
With that night spent uneventfully, I decided we were going to the mountains to cut our Christmas tree. My husband had to work, so I enlisted his Mom and two brothers and sister to come with us, and my youngest sister as well. We had planned to leave at 10 a.m., but like all travel with more than one person, we left late. After filling up our cars with gas and tires with air and finishing the other loose ends that seem to unravel a schedule, it was 11:30 a.m. by the time we were pulling out of Central Point, Oregon, headed for a treed area outside of Prospect, Oregon. All of us were enjoying just being together (in other words, no one was stressed out by the late departure) and I had reason to be grateful for the relaxed air of the group.
By the time we'd reached Prospect, I'd pulled to the side of the road three times to the sound of that warning cough that signaled a food expulsion. My 18 month old and 3 year old had both caught the flu.
Sharing a car with vomiting children normally would have had me heading back for home. The stink alone could do that! But I was set on cutting my own Christmas tree.
My years of childhood "wild tree cutting tradition" wanted me to share the good times with my children. So I pushed on. My 18 year old brother-in-law stuck some AireMaster bars into the vents of my car (my in-laws own an
Airmaster franchise) and we continued on toward Prospect to the smell of apple cider with an underlying, but easily ignored, smell of vomit.
I am feeling grateful for the warning cough that proceeds vomiting because I have been listening for it day and night for the last 36 hours as the flu makes its way through my family.
It started with my 7 year old who caught the flu bug at night. He had one vomiting episode that night and two the next day. The warning huffing cough helped me keep the mess at a minimum.
Then my 10 year old caught it. She's good at catching her own messes, so I was mere moral support.
With that night spent uneventfully, I decided we were going to the mountains to cut our Christmas tree. My husband had to work, so I enlisted his Mom and two brothers and sister to come with us, and my youngest sister as well. We had planned to leave at 10 a.m., but like all travel with more than one person, we left late. After filling up our cars with gas and tires with air and finishing the other loose ends that seem to unravel a schedule, it was 11:30 a.m. by the time we were pulling out of Central Point, Oregon, headed for a treed area outside of Prospect, Oregon. All of us were enjoying just being together (in other words, no one was stressed out by the late departure) and I had reason to be grateful for the relaxed air of the group.
By the time we'd reached Prospect, I'd pulled to the side of the road three times to the sound of that warning cough that signaled a food expulsion. My 18 month old and 3 year old had both caught the flu.
Sharing a car with vomiting children normally would have had me heading back for home. The stink alone could do that! But I was set on cutting my own Christmas tree.
My years of childhood "wild tree cutting tradition" wanted me to share the good times with my children. So I pushed on. My 18 year old brother-in-law stuck some AireMaster bars into the vents of my car (my in-laws own anAirmaster franchise) and we continued on toward Prospect to the smell of apple cider with an underlying, but easily ignored, smell of vomit.
This is a photo of me with my 18 month old--the snow suit hides the smell and mess.
We cut our Christmas trees out of douglas fir. A douglas fir tree does not look like the bushy evergreens sold on tree lots. At least not if they are cut wild from a mountain. Their boughs are more widely spaced--perfect for showing off ornaments. I like a tree that acts like a display shelf for the ornaments, rather than like an I spy game of hide and seek. And a wild grown tree lasts until the new year
before dropping lots of needles. And the tag only costs $5.00. If you ignore the cost of gas and a day of work (if your days of work are paid for in money), then cutting a wild tree for Christmas is a good deal. And even if it doesn't pencil out entirely, the experience of taking my suburban children into the snow and beauty of the mountains to find the best Christmas tree ever (it's the best every year) is priceless. And no flu will keep me from giving that experience to my children. And of course, they WILL enjoy it.
We cut our Christmas trees out of douglas fir. A douglas fir tree does not look like the bushy evergreens sold on tree lots. At least not if they are cut wild from a mountain. Their boughs are more widely spaced--perfect for showing off ornaments. I like a tree that acts like a display shelf for the ornaments, rather than like an I spy game of hide and seek. And a wild grown tree lasts until the new year
before dropping lots of needles. And the tag only costs $5.00. If you ignore the cost of gas and a day of work (if your days of work are paid for in money), then cutting a wild tree for Christmas is a good deal. And even if it doesn't pencil out entirely, the experience of taking my suburban children into the snow and beauty of the mountains to find the best Christmas tree ever (it's the best every year) is priceless. And no flu will keep me from giving that experience to my children. And of course, they WILL enjoy it. This is a photo of my 15 year old BIL holding a douglas fir Christmas tree.
So now you're wondering if the experience was worth it. It was. The sick children forgot their ills for most of the time we were there. We took happy pictures, which always defines how we remember the event. True, I spent yesterday sick and today my 3 year old is still sick. So I am still listening for the warning cough (which sounded its warning in the car after I dropped the rest of the family off at church). But we have a Christmas tree leaning up against my roof ready to be fit into its stand and decorated tomorrow for our Family Night.
And it's the best Christmas tree ever! Or do you think yours is?
So now you're wondering if the experience was worth it. It was. The sick children forgot their ills for most of the time we were there. We took happy pictures, which always defines how we remember the event. True, I spent yesterday sick and today my 3 year old is still sick. So I am still listening for the warning cough (which sounded its warning in the car after I dropped the rest of the family off at church). But we have a Christmas tree leaning up against my roof ready to be fit into its stand and decorated tomorrow for our Family Night.
And it's the best Christmas tree ever! Or do you think yours is?
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