Write a Christmas Newsletter

It's that wonderful time of year again when customary holiday greeting cards are sent out to loved ones, to spread the holiday cheer. When sending out your Christmas Cards, why not include a little home-made newsletter to keep family and friends updated on what is happening in your life?

Steps

 * 1)  Tailor your news to your recipient. Think about who you're sending your newsletter to. What sort of information would you like to include for that recipient? Possibilities might include marriage, moving in with your partner, vacations, new pets, children's news, graduations, new job and any significant changes in your life. There's no need to go into great detail. Just mention milestones and happy events that have occurred within the past year.
 * 2)  Pick out Christmas or other holiday-themed stationery. There is a wide variety of stationery available with pre-printed themes on the paper that you can use to print your newsletter onto. Alternatively, you can make a colorful Christmas theme on your computer program that will print directly onto plain paper.
 * 3)  Design the newsletter. Using a program such as Open Office, Microsoft Word, Pages or Wordpad, start preparing your newsletter. If your program already has pre-set newsletter layouts, you can use these for a very professional result.  Choose a pleasing and elegant font, in a fairly large typeset to make it easy for the young and the very old to read beside the firelight.
 * 4)  Keep the tone casual and upbeat. Most importantly, don't fill it with tales of  how many amazing achievements you and your family have had -- that just sounds like bragging!  Similarly, don't be morose and fill it with tales of woe about all your hardships that you've confronted all year. This is Christmas time, when love, warmth and the overcoming of adversity are considered key elements of the season. Remember that you are just updating people, not giving a sermon!
 * 5)  Close off the newsletter by wishing your family and friends a wonderful holiday season! You might also wish them a safe, prosperous and happy New Year.

Tips

 * Your paper color doesn't have to be white; choose pale green or pale silver for a festive touch.
 * If you'd like, include information such as your favorite holiday recipes in your newsletter.
 * If you can't remember all you did during the year, pull out your credit card receipts or checkbook register and check where you spent your money; it's like a trip down memory lane ("Yeah, there's that cute little B&B! Oh, I forgot the time we went to the beach boardwalk..."). Don't forget all those digital pictures you haven't downloaded yet!
 * If words fail you, make a photo collage, and just add a few captions to describe the events in those photos.
 * Include your photo with your family together, to give a nice, personal touch. Insert photos related to the news tidbits wherever possible, such as a few photos of your family vacation, or your child's photo on graduation day.
 * During the year, when your kids say something adorably cute (e.g. "Daddy! You have a hole in your hair!"), run to your calendar and write it down in the margin. At the end of the year when you're trying to remember significant events, you'll also find these priceless "quotable quotes" to lend an entertaining dash of creativity to your publication.
 * For an alternative, create an interesting format that can be used to convey the same news in a more interesting way than a newsletter. Try a travel itinerary that lists the events of the year as though they were travel events. For example, your children may have been "upgraded to 10th grade". Other formats can be a newspaper article, a contractor estimate, a script for a play or soap opera, a travel brochure with photos, recipes, or CD cover photo and insert. These will all take some more time, so you should prepare well in advance or have a solid block of time to sit down and do this without interruption.

Warnings

 * Steer clear of writing from the point of view of your pets, i.e. "Hey, it's Pokey and Maggie again. Our people left us in a kennel while they celebrated their anniversary on a great vacation in Mexico last July."  It's quite overdone and might be annoying to some. If you want, you can include a section or article that is written in this tone to appease the pet lovers, but avoid writing in this style for the whole newsletter.
 * Depending on their ages, let children preview what you've written about them. Anecdotes you find cute and charming may be acutely embarrassing to them.  College students and adult children may not want to be mentioned at all.  Don't include contact information for them without their permission.
 * Try not to remind the recipients about any unfortunate events in their life.
 * You may want to edit the newsletter for specific recipients.
 * Write your letters in the first person, which is using the words "I" and "We" rather than the third person narration style (referring to yourself by your own name). If it's a letter, it should be directly between you and your reader, such as saying "We had a wonderful trip to Bongo Beach, where we tried surfing."
 * People are usually more interested in you than in your kids. Make sure at least half of your newsletter is about you rather than your kids.

Things You'll Need

 * Computer
 * Computer program such as MS Word where you can layout the newsletter
 * Home printer
 * Various family photos related to the news you are sharing
 * Holiday stationery
 * Christmas cards
 * Creativity and imagination

Related Tips and Steps

 * Celebrate an Old Fashioned Christmas
 * Make Your Own Christmas Gifts

Sources and Citations

 * eHow to Create a Holiday Newsletter on Your Computer
 * eHow to Produce a Newsletter
 * Christmas News Letter Suggestions and Examples