A good Christmas letter starts with the important family news: births, marriages, deaths, and what the children are doing. After that, fill it with your favorite books, films, and meals of the year, your hobbies, anything unusual about your job or where you live, and memories you share with the reader.
The article on how to write a good holiday letter gives you tips on how to write your annual letter. This one gives you Christmas letter ideas to help you with what to write.
The important details
One of the main purposes of an annual holiday letter is to bring people up to date on your life. That makes it very important to mention births, marriages, deaths, and other major changes in your life or in your immediate family. Remember that some of the people who read your letter may not have seen you for years, maybe decades, so it is also a good idea to include the names and ages of your children. People love to see pictures too, if you have them.
If you have children, people will want to know what they have been up to over the last year. If they are young, tell people about their school activities and hobbies. You can also include some of the cute things they did and the milestones they reached during the year. If they are grown up, update your friends on their careers and families.
More Christmas letter ideas
The important details are usually easy to write about, but what do you include after that? In many cases, they fit into just a few paragraphs. Here are a few more Christmas letter ideas to help you fill the rest of your letter.
Your favorites
Share some of your favorite things from the year. If you are an avid reader, many of your friends would probably like to know your thoughts on the best books you read. Chances are that if you are a bookworm, several of the people on your list are too.
The same idea applies to films and television shows. If you saw everyone on your list in person, you would probably talk about your favorites, right?
Are you a foodie? Share some of the best meals of the year, whether you cooked them yourself or enjoyed them at a new restaurant.
Hobbies
Your hobbies and what you do for fun are other popular topics. Your Christmas letter is not just about what you accomplished during the year: people want to hear about you, and what you do for fun is part of that. Write about the softball league you play in, a new group you joined, or how much you enjoy taking your dog to the local park.
When you share these activities, make sure you are not just bragging. Make a point of sharing something about them that your readers will find interesting.
An unusual job or place
If you live in an unusual place, have a job that most people would consider a little different, or did something during the year that your friends would be interested in, those topics make great material for a Christmas letter.
They are especially interesting if you can share experiences that will surprise your friends. Are you an indoor person who spent a couple of weekends landscaping your backyard? Tell them.
Favorite memories
The holiday season is about spending time with friends and family, and memories of the times you spent together make great Christmas letter ideas. When you are together, you probably spend time remembering some of the best or most memorable moments of the past. Bring some of that into your letter.
These ideas can really improve your holiday letter. But knowing what to write about, and writing the letter, is only the beginning. Before you send it, run it through the Spell Checker: a big typo in the first line of a letter that goes to dozens of people is embarrassing, and you may never hear the end of it.