Posted tagged ‘Letters’

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Christmas Cards

January 9, 2019

I declare that the Christmas card season is about over. Yesterday, I received what I expect to be the last card for the season. So it is time to review what happened.

This year I sent out 130 Christmas letters to friends and family spread out across the country. About half are in the Los Angeles area and the other half in the Boston area. Then add a few odd letters to people in North Carolina and Florida.

In 2017, I sent out about 175 letters. This year I spent a great deal of effort trimming the list down to 130. So how many did we receive? Well as best I can count we received a little over 30 cards, letters and holiday pictures. My goal has been to reach out to the people that we have known over the many years.

 

I don’t understand why the cards received is so much lower than the number sent. We love to hear how people are doing. As you can see in the pictures above, we love to post the cards in any available space around out kitchen and dining room.

So my question for my readers. Do you send out holiday/Christmas cards/letters? If not, why not? If yes, why? Perhaps $.50 each for postage might be one answer.

Categories: Christmas, Technology
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Christmas Letters

December 10, 2018

2018-12-10 10.57.10Every year at this time I write a Christmas letter. I have  been doing it now for about 20 years. I have most of the old letters saved in a directory on my computer going back to 1999.

I got the idea of writing the letters from Paula’s mother who did a Christmas letter every year. I felt that just doing cards was boring. I felt like writing to folks about what has happened in our lives, but doing it on each card was too much work. So I started our Christmas letter.

This year it will be going to about 125 of our nearest and dearest friends all over the world. One year I emailed the letter to most of our friends, but felt that was  boring.

Last year it went out to about 180 people. This year, I decided to pare the list down a bit. Getting a bit pricey at 50 cents per stamp.

So here’s my process. First, I save pictures over the course of the year and put in a Christmas 20xx file. I select pictures that might be good for the letter.

In mid November, I start reviewing the mailing list. I check for addresses. I check for deaths in the families. I don’t want to commit the faux pas of sending a letter to John and Jane Doe when Jane died during the year.

Beginning in early December, I start writing. Add pictures, then print and submit to editor in chief (Paula) who makes suggestions and corrections to my spelling and grammar.

Then log in to Amazon and shop for paper and envelopes. This year I have way more than I need. Extra paper and envelopes go into a bin for next year.

Next, print labels. I found an app on iTunes App Store that does a great job of printing labels. Click here for a pointer to the app.

Next, start the print run. Invariably, I run out of ink. This year is no different. Ran out of color cartridge. Ordered from HP. Should be here today. Once I have the ink installed, continue printing. HP offers free overnight shipping for ink cartridges. Good deal.

At this point, I hand off a handful of letters to Paula for people that she wants to add a personal note, maybe 20-25 out of 125.

Finally fold and stuff into envelopes and put on address and return address stickers. Finally add postage and drop into the mailbox.

If you don’t want to wait for the mailman, click here for your own copy.

Categories: Christmas
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My Christmas Letter

December 9, 2017

2017-12-09 14.34.33Every year at this time I write a Christmas letter to 130 of my nearest and dearest friends. I started doing it about 20 years ago. My in-laws (Harold and Mary) had sent out Christmas letters to all of their friends for many years. That’s where I got the idea.

I was tired of just sending out a card that we just signed and threw in the mailbox. I knew I wasn’t possible to write a long individual letter to every one of our friends and relations. That wasn’t going to happen.

One year I tried sending the letter only be email. I wasn’t happy with how it turned out. Many people didn’t have email. It just felt better sending a written letter on a piece of paper. I still send a few letters by email, but it’s only as a last resort like when I don’t have an updated, valid postal address.

So every year the process starts anew. I begin to review the list. Who do I add? Who do I remove? I need to remove the spouses that have passed during the year. I keep the list as a group on my Apple. This year I made sure that every one got a full 9 digit zip code.

Then I ordered paper and envelopes from Amazon. I checked to see if I have enough address labels. So now I have some paper and envelopes left over. Hopefully I can find the stuff next November.

On the day after Thanksgiving, I start writing the letter. My goal is to fill 2 pages with the stories of our year. What did we do? Where did we go? How’s everyone doing?

Then I pick a few pictures to add to the letter. Obligatory pictures of us, our grand kids are added.

I usually have to shrink the font size down a bit in order to fit the letter on two pages. This year I ended up with size 11 font.

Finally after numerous final edits by Paula and I, the letter goes to print. Oh I need to check the ink status on my printer. I ordered a package of color ink from HP. but didn’t need it.

Time to print. First, I did the labels. Last year I got a new app from the app store that does a real good job printing labels. The app is called “Label Printer” by Richard McKenna. I think that he has a version for Android. One can add addresses directly from the contact database. Really does a good job.

Then I print the letter. I have a duplex printer but I find that I can do it faster if I do the front page, then after that is done, do the back page.

Then fold and stuff envelopes. Paula usually wants to write a personal note to some of our friends, so I cull those out for her.

Finally, I seal and stamp. On Monday, I take them to the PO.

TTFN

Joe

Categories: Family
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