I wrote an introduction to a Holiday Letter that we did not end up using. As I was putting this down in writing I felt the spirit move in my fingers, and what I ended up with was not particularly what I started out to create. It went something like this:
If I am writing a letter that describes what my family and I have been doing for the past year and sending it to "family and friends" that have not been interested enough in me to try looking at my Facebook postings or reading my blog, then why am I bothering? If you want to know what is happening with people today you have multiple avenues to reach them, either actively with an email or phone call here and there to ask them how they are doing, or passively through participating in shared environments like Facebook, blogging, and many others. My Holiday Letter seems to disrupt this status quo by forcing you to read about me even if you have not been interested in doing so.
What should I write about? If you have been following me and my life you know about the big stuff, and likely about the little stuff, too. What's left to write about?
This brings to mind the old Bert and I skit where Bert returns home after an absence and his friend tells him "There really is no news, except that I should tell you that your dog died." As the story unfolds, the dog died from eating the dead horse flesh, which died in the fire that destroyed the barn, which caught fire from sparks that flew from the house, that caught on fire from the candles that were burning around the casket, which held the beloved Aunt that died, who died when she heard the news about your Uncle, etc. A perfect Shaggy Dog story that never has to end. It does finally end when he says, "Other than that, there is no news!"
Well, my dog died, but all that other stuff didn't happen!
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