Just your standard holiday letter

The self-congratulatory holiday letter.  Did everyone write individual cards by hand until the era of copiers and printers?  I suppose the holiday letter is considered a time saver as composing thirty plus letters before Christmas is an undeniably daunting task.  Additionally, I've been told most people can't even read cursive anymore, so handwritten letters are an effort in vain.

I am a sucker for handwritten letters.  Over the years, I have read and re-read published letter collections of authors and cultural icons.  I head down to the basement to read my Grandpa Len's letters and prolific journals every time I visit my parents.  I imagine these writers at their desks in pools of warm light as night colors rise in the sky and their loved ones fiddle with pots and pans in the kitchen.  

Mike teased me about my holiday letter conundrum.  

"Nothing to be stressed about."  

"I'm not stressed- I just want to say something more than 'happy holidays' to all of these people we love who we don't communicate with often enough."  

"So write an insert."  

An insert?  If I compose a handwritten insert for the elected few, shouldn't I just write them a letter?  Who gets an insert and who doesn't?   Ah!  The dilemmas of modern times!  Thus, instead of writing these personalized inserts or composing a holiday letter, I am complaining carefully analyzing it all on my blog.

Perhaps I could write a satirical holiday letter in order to demonstrate that although I do not fully embrace the holiday letter, I will share our accolades, achievements, and vacations regardless.  It would start like this:

Nearest and dearest,

Like you, Mike and I had a year filled with many blessings. We considered ourselves sooo fortunate as we head into parenthood.  At our last doctors' appointment, we received relentless praise for the baby's outstanding heart rate and measurements.   It is clear that our baby will be in the top of its class.

Barf.  Now although our baby's heart rate does fall within the healthy guidelines, I will inevitably gain notary as "that parent" as soon as this letter hits the mailbox.  Satirical or not, the letter reeks of vanity.  

So, I am left with the question: what does one put in one standard, universal holiday letter?  Is it worth a try at least?

Okay, here goes nothing:

Nearest and dearest,

This January marks a decade since the day Mike and I first met at Macalester College.  It may not have been love at first sight according to fairy tales, but it was pretty darn close.  Instead of glass slippers, we cosmically bonded over scrabble and snowstorms.  

On our wedding day (my birthday) in July 2010, we knew this was "Where It's At" as we danced to our friends' harmonies and ate copious amounts of cake!  This July, we celebrated our 2nd year anniversary (my birthday) in Italy with another realized moment of true love- two pink lines- a baby!  Instead of splitting a bottle of wine, we toasted to diapers and baby powder over Pellegrino.  

Between our full days of teaching, grad school for Mike, and all the other commitments that pull us away, Mike and I bask in the moments we are able to linger at home and hang out together.  We still agree that there is nothing better than scrabble and snowstorms (although Rachel the Dog recently ate an A, three S's, and Z)...except, perhaps, building a snow fort and drinking hot chocolate with our own little boy(!).

We hope that you had a happy and healthy 2012.  We love you and miss you!

Love,

Molly and Mike