Costco Connection - November 2007

Holiday letter

how to’s

CHRONICLE OF CHEER or hotbed of hyperbole? The debate over holiday letters rages on. Whether you view them with dread or delight, annual letters are still one of the easiest ways to recap the year for friends and family. Creating the annual family letter doesn’t have to be a headache. Here are some ways to get it done and make it fun. < First and foremost, keep it short. One page is max—and use a readable font. Spotlight a few noteworthy events and let the rest go. < Be honest, but upbeat. Pick some positive moments to report. Even if you had a difficult year, focus on the bright side. < Add graphics or artwork to break up the text. Desktop publishing can make it a breeze. If you don’t know how, ask a teenager! < Hate to write? Enlist other family members to help out. Request a brief paragraph from each kid, one from your spouse, a paw print from the family pet and, voilà, the letter’s done. < Humor is always welcome. Use a creative title, such as “Greetings from the Family

Whose Kids Are Better

Than Yours.” In this light-hearted letter, the offspring are all successful and every child played the lead in the spring musical. < Liven up the facts with a multiple-choice format. For example, “In June, our son Bobby (a) became the first teenage astronaut; (b) graduated from high school; (c) announced his decision to run with Hillary Clinton in ’08.” < Include a picture, which is better than a thousand words. Friends and relatives love to see how much the kids have grown (and how much you’ve aged). Snap the family photo in an off-beat locale, a place you visited or a spot that you remodeled in the past year. Try dressing down—a pajama picture can be fun— instead of dressing up. (Costco’s 1-Hour Photo and digital photo service makes it easy to enclose or attach photos in minutes.)

KEN BROMAN

By the way, there’s no law that says you have to get your letter out by a certain date. If the holidays are too crammed, wait until afterward and send a New Year’s epistle. Then you can relax, add a few personal lines and answer any notes you received.

Whether your letter arrives by snail mail or e-mail, it’s sure to be a welcome greeting to friends far and near. And if you make it an annual tradition, someday you’ll look back and have a ready-made chronicle of your life.—Lois Swagerty

Get your
whole family
in the picture.

These Lumix digital cameras all feature a 28mm wide-angle Leica lens plus MEGA Optical Image Stabilization and Intelligent ISO to help prevent blurry pictures.