Christmas Letters

(Keep in mind, as you read the following, I have sent no more than five Christmas cards total in the last decade, so it's not as though I'm encouraging these people.)

I can deal with getting Christmas cards from people I seldom/rarely/never see. For example, every year I a card from my sister in-law's father and step-mother. They are perfectly nice people, but I don't think I've seen them more than once since my brother got married three(?) years ago.

What I cannot deal with is getting Christmas cards which also include a "Christmas Letter," the one in which the author(s) fill you in on everything they've done in the past year. I think there are two primary reasons for this. First, if I had any interest in what they were doing during the year, I would stay in touch! Second, they always seem to be written- as one might logically expect- by people who have an overdeveloped sense of their importance and the importance of their endeavors.

The letter in question was written by the daughter of a man who taught with my father for many years. The two families have remained close, but at this point, I really only see them at weddings and funerals.

Here are just a few highlights:

• The author refers to the celebrating of the "adoptiversary" of the mixed breed dog they took into their home this year.
• The author has a "life coach."
• The author and her husband take part in a weekly meditation group and spent a week on a "silent retreat."
• The dog referred to above, "signed" the letter.
• The letter closes with the following sentence: "May we all find safety and protection, health and strength, peace and happiness, and internal fulfillment and awakening through this season and throughout 2008, and may we send the same out to the rest of the planet."

Honestly...