Christmas Letters
The holidays are a time for eating (too much), shopping, parties, family and…those Christmas letters. You know the ones. The “what’s happening in our family” letters that many include with holiday cards. If you love them or hate them, you have to admit that some are downright funny. Someone - specifically, screenwriter Michael Lent - has packaged up some letter gems into a book called Christmas Letters from Hell.
The publisher describes it like this:
Who doesn’t love to open the mailbox during the holidays and find a newsletter? Whether it’s a juicy missive from a college roommate inadvertently revealing her husband’s wandering eye, a self-congratulatory account of a cousin’s rise to power at the local fast-food joint, or a mind-numbingly detailed account of a year’s medical ailments (including photos) from a coworker, they’re always entertaining.
Christmas Letters from Hell skewers holiday letters of all shapes and sizes, from the ones that come crammed with cheesy graphics or written from the perspective of the recently neutered family dog to those filled with stories of “perfect” family vacations that were clearly anything but. Here Santa uses his holiday letter to let the elves know that he’ll be outsourcing to China effective immediately; a bipolar mom tells two very different versions of the year’s events; and Osama bin Laden touches base with his high school host family in Minneapolis.
Christmas Letters from Hell serves up a steaming, savory blend of the holiday cheer, humor, and twisted truth in our well-intended attempts to stay in touch gone horribly, horribly wrong.
I find this irresistible.
December 4th, 2007 at 2:04 pm
This sounds like a must!
December 4th, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Oh we get a few of those letters and one in particular is sooooo annoying that my daughter and I have made it a thing that we have to read it together so we can totally make fun of the whole thing - it’s either that or scream lol.
December 4th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
Hi Helen,
Oh my gosh, we do not like Christmas letters at all! When ever we get one it goes in the trash. We were getting them from our friends, people we hang out with. I mean, what is it that they think they have to brag about themselves even more at Christmas time? I think it has become a thing of the past because we don’t get them anymore. Thank God!
By the way, did you ever get my e-mail? I won your contest on Oct. 26th, at Access Romance. I sent an e-mail to your gmail.com address on 11/23/07. Please let me know if I need to resend my e-mail. Thank you!
Many blessings to you and your family at this holiday season!
Michele
December 4th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
I’ve received letters I could add to that book! I love getting the detailed synopsis and pictures of the past year from friends - especially because we have some very funny friends. The letters that don’t take themselves too seriously are such a joy to read. If I was clever enough, I might try to send one out for my family, just for fun. But time always gets away from me.
Thanks for the heads up on the book. I’m going to buy it! I think we’ve worn out Twas The Night Before Christmas and this will make a great replacement. lol
December 5th, 2007 at 4:31 am
This definitely sounds like a guilty pleasure. I don’t get a lot of newsletters, but the ones I do get aren’t all that bad, thank God. Though I would like to get one that talks about the family skeletons. Is that wrong of me???
I just look back over the past year and think: what I could write about would be summed up in about 2 sentences instead of 2 pages.
December 5th, 2007 at 5:34 am
I have to look for this one. Some of the holiday newsletters I receive are fun–filled with news I’m happy to hear. But a couple fall into what one of my friends calls, “My family is better than your family.”
December 5th, 2007 at 9:47 am
This sounds like a fun book!
December 5th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
Sounds like an interesting book