“The Holiday Letter” by K. Schloss

Don’t you just love the holidays? The season is upon us for extending good cheer and well wishes toward loved ones and strangers alike. While family just loves our matching pajama pictures and images of our dogs donning reindeer ears, why not try something different?

I challenge you to implement some writing into your traditions and start a Holiday Letter exchange from each household among your immediate family. If you’re like me and you have too many cousins to name quickly, along with their children and grandchildren, a letter is the perfect method of communicating. An added bonus is the money it could save you on gifts for all your generations.

The rules to drafting the Holiday Letter are as follows:

• Have Fun With This!! Pick a pretty or handsome stationary to grab your family’s attention. Have a little fun each year with selected themed papers. One year you can pick a certain set of color hues to write on, patterned prints, or even seek out paper that mimics the ugly sweater concept.

• Include at least One (1) Fact/Accomplishment/Goal for each member of your household.

• You must communicate with each member to talk about what will be included about them personally. This gives opportunity for positive dialogue and discussion of life goals, which could also help launch your teens and tweens into this futuristic thought process.

• Again have fun! Expound on what you will be serving the family for dinner and any extras or new recipes you’ll be attempting.

• Talk about something you’ve done either to decorate or improve your property/ living space this year.

• Include a fond memory the family shared the last time you were all together. The holidays can be rough for cousins and aunts who’ve lost parents or spouses so a nice mention of them could go a long way.

Now that you have the concept in mind, share this blog with your family and get writing. The old adage says you can’t pick your family, but I’ll add they were pre-selected and purposeful just for you. Happy upcoming holidays to everyone and I can only hope I’ve inspired you to dig deep and WRITE!