Deborah Cooke: Author

Do you like the holiday letters? I don’t mean the ones that are handwritten just for you, maybe on the inside of the card sent to you. I mean the form letters, maybe printed on festive stationary, addressed to no one in particular and stuffed inside the card.

I have mixed feelings about them. On the one hand, I like to hear news from people I don’t talk to very often throughout the year. On the other, there’s a lot of selective editing in these letters – of course, I’m curious about the bits that are left out!

One of the interesting things is that no matter how much “spin” is put on the year’s events, the writer’s true nature always comes through.

The only letters I don’t like are the ones from the braggers. (Unfortunately, in some years, those are the majority – is there a correlation between the kind of person who writes these letter and insecurity?) These individuals take their boasting to competitive heights – their letters remind me of why we don’t get together during the year. I’d like to call those people up and give them a hard slap, just to remind them how lucky they really are.

I also have a friend who has a hard time emotionally with Christmas – her letter inevitably reviews the health setbacks (or deaths) of her many many beloved pets. I know that her pets give her much love and happiness, but that she’s someone who sees the shadows more keenly in the winter. I always write her a long letter after receiving hers, because I think of her letter as a request for support. In January, when the holiday sparkles are put away, I imagine that she has an even tougher time. As heartbreaking as her letters can be, it’s much worse to not hear from her at all.

On a lighter note, there’s my cousin – the eternally curious one, the one who always laughed first and loudest – who inevitably has had some new (often bizarre) adventure in the year just passed but presents it in “no big deal” terms. Her letters always make me smile. I can’t remember whether she could turn cartwheels or not, but I envision her cartwheeling through life, laughing all the way.

I’ve written a holiday letter once or twice, but I’m more likely to scrawl a note inside each card to the recipient. This year, with my December deadline, a lot of cards went without notes at all – in fact, I think it’s miraculous that they even got done. (And no, Pam, the book manuscript has not yet gone to NYC. Soon. Really.)

What about you? Do you like holiday letters? Do you read them? Do you write one?