Below is an excerpt from an opinion piece first published in the Springfield Daily Citizen on Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023.
Ducks, windshield wipers, trams, and two-year-old wish lists. Boy, I miss the old-fashioned holiday letters.
Whatever you called them — Christmas letters, holiday letters, New Year’s letters — these letters made the season for me. I miss writing them and I miss receiving them.
There was a time back in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, before email, the Internet and social media, when phone calls were relatively expensive and regular communication was accomplished through the mail – letters, postcards, and greeting cards. The holiday letters served to maintain contact with relatives and friends with whom regular communication was sporadic, at best.
For those who wrote for a living, the holiday letter was an escape — an opportunity to be creative and tell stories in ways not possible in their “day jobs.” The funnier the stories, the better. And because people were in a better mood around the holidays, they were willing recipients to the humor.
Read the full piece here >>
Ducks, windshield wipers, trams, and two-year-old wish lists. Boy, I miss the old-fashioned holiday letters.
Whatever you called them — Christmas letters, holiday letters, New Year’s letters — these letters made the season for me. I miss writing them and I miss receiving them.
There was a time back in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, before email, the Internet and social media, when phone calls were relatively expensive and regular communication was accomplished through the mail – letters, postcards, and greeting cards. The holiday letters served to maintain contact with relatives and friends with whom regular communication was sporadic, at best.
For those who wrote for a living, the holiday letter was an escape — an opportunity to be creative and tell stories in ways not possible in their “day jobs.” The funnier the stories, the better. And because people were in a better mood around the holidays, they were willing recipients to the humor.
Read the full piece here >>