We've got our newsletter done*, and the Christmas cards are starting to inch their way out the door. And the insurance premiums. And the property taxes and personal property taxes. And the subdivision dues. And three sweet baseball card trades. Hope the postal delivery folks have been doing their workouts.
*does anyone else do this? we send out +/- 40 cards every year all over the US world, and we figure if people don't want to read them, they don't have to. Still, we have ~30 years of them in a binder and they do make for handy reference when we wonder when something happened.
I try to send out letters. I missed last year, but hit the two or three before that, and I've got a running start on this year's letter. Historically we've tried to avoid rote updates, though they often seemed to make it in. One year we sent a "photo" of our family - it was just stick figures. Another year we had a letter written from the perspective of our imaginary dog "Spoofy" in which we mostly wrote about how Spoofy didn't understand what the humans were doing because Spoofy wasn't real. Another year there was a tale about how we traveled back in time. Lately it's been story-telling efforts and rumination. Picking a few good stories from our year and reflecting on a deeper message that goes along with it.
I absolutely love getting cards from others and reading their updates. I wish more people did it, and I wish more people sent letters along with the pictures.
With so many on Facebook, they become a bit superfluous, but we try to fill in the gaps a bit, plus 2-3 good photos.
I hope you send them. I like reading them. (Though not sure if I recall "Spoofy." Am I still on the list?)
I like writing them, too, but between annual busyness and personal existential angst, we've not bothered for a few years.
Mrs. A took care of the annual Christmas letter this year. I did, however, write one on behalf of my mom.
Christmas cards are one of my annual duties, and I take a lot of care to send out a card that expresses something about our family (and, yeah, maybe the sensibilities of the guy making the cards). I’ve never sent out a newsletter*, and over the last few years, I’ve reduced the text on the card to nearly none. With the Poissonnière’s arrival, I thought more photos would tell the story of the year better, so I gravitated to sending cards that featured many small, Instagram-style photos of her year, plus one each of her parents & our cats. This year I abandoned that in favor of a larger card (8.5x5.5”) with A/B versions: Card A has two large, full-card photos of the Poissonnière I took with the Good Camera** this autumn; Card B has Card A’s large front photo, while the back has the second Card A photo at a reduced size, plus a third photo: the sun setting behind the isthmus skyline of the People’s Republic from across one of the frozen lakes. Both cards are on nice stock with a pearlescent finish. I’m curious to see what comments I get, since that will dictate what direction I go next year (stay with the bigger photos, or go back to the Instagram style?). The only text is “Peace on Earth, “ which I’ve put on the cards every year since I stopped hand-writing them.
* My philosophy on newsletters is that, while I enjoy reading the few we do get, if our recipients need an annual newsletter to know what we’re up to, we might not be as close as we once were. Social media has bridged some of that gap, of course. Sometimes, the less said, the better. Aligned with that, I’ve tried to trim our card list every year; if we don’t get a card from someone outside the immediate family two years out of three, that’s one fewer card that gets sent next year.
** Fuji X-T1. I bought it just before the X-T2 was announced, with a pretty reasonable discount. I don’t have a lot of glass for it, but compatibility isn’t an issue if I decide to update the body at some point.
yeah, we monitor send/received list so we don't send to anyone who doesn't want
I rarely, if ever, read the newsletters and can't even conceive of sending one.
We did cards with photos of the kids forever. The year Elaine died, I just did a card with the three of us, which definitely pulled at the heartstrings (and the way a couple of people realized she died). Last year I culled the list significantly (75%), just had a card of a nature photo I took with an inspirational poem that I also composed and sent it to close family and friends. Very secular. Will do the same this year.
Half-Baked Hall poll is up. I didn't put an expiration. Just get your vote in, the 16 of you who do it.
I absolutely love the new windows we put in the house this summer, but we identified 4-5 that had moisture/fogged up when we hit 17° a while back, plus earlier on we had some where the sash did not slide well, etc. Still, the company has done a good job of replacing the defective ones (no charge) so aside from the follow up annoyance, the windows have made a huge difference to our inside temps.
Try some silicone spray on the sashes, I swear by that stuff. I also use it on all of the door seals on the cars, plus on radiator hoses and vacuum lines. Keeps them nice and pliable.
sound advice, although I'll save that for down the line; in the meantime, it's their issue to get them right to begin with
so, uhh...
A new era of baseball has begun...the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels have arrived! pic.twitter.com/ChNNJuzfaK
We've got our newsletter done*, and the Christmas cards are starting to inch their way out the door. And the insurance premiums. And the property taxes and personal property taxes. And the subdivision dues. And three sweet baseball card trades. Hope the postal delivery folks have been doing their workouts.
*does anyone else do this? we send out +/- 40 cards every year all over the
USworld, and we figure if people don't want to read them, they don't have to. Still, we have ~30 years of them in a binder and they do make for handy reference when we wonder when something happened.I try to send out letters. I missed last year, but hit the two or three before that, and I've got a running start on this year's letter. Historically we've tried to avoid rote updates, though they often seemed to make it in. One year we sent a "photo" of our family - it was just stick figures. Another year we had a letter written from the perspective of our imaginary dog "Spoofy" in which we mostly wrote about how Spoofy didn't understand what the humans were doing because Spoofy wasn't real. Another year there was a tale about how we traveled back in time. Lately it's been story-telling efforts and rumination. Picking a few good stories from our year and reflecting on a deeper message that goes along with it.
I absolutely love getting cards from others and reading their updates. I wish more people did it, and I wish more people sent letters along with the pictures.
With so many on Facebook, they become a bit superfluous, but we try to fill in the gaps a bit, plus 2-3 good photos.
I hope you send them. I like reading them. (Though not sure if I recall "Spoofy." Am I still on the list?)
I like writing them, too, but between annual busyness and personal existential angst, we've not bothered for a few years.
Mrs. A took care of the annual Christmas letter this year. I did, however, write one on behalf of my mom.
Christmas cards are one of my annual duties, and I take a lot of care to send out a card that expresses something about our family (and, yeah, maybe the sensibilities of the guy making the cards). I’ve never sent out a newsletter*, and over the last few years, I’ve reduced the text on the card to nearly none. With the Poissonnière’s arrival, I thought more photos would tell the story of the year better, so I gravitated to sending cards that featured many small, Instagram-style photos of her year, plus one each of her parents & our cats. This year I abandoned that in favor of a larger card (8.5x5.5”) with A/B versions: Card A has two large, full-card photos of the Poissonnière I took with the Good Camera** this autumn; Card B has Card A’s large front photo, while the back has the second Card A photo at a reduced size, plus a third photo: the sun setting behind the isthmus skyline of the People’s Republic from across one of the frozen lakes. Both cards are on nice stock with a pearlescent finish. I’m curious to see what comments I get, since that will dictate what direction I go next year (stay with the bigger photos, or go back to the Instagram style?). The only text is “Peace on Earth, “ which I’ve put on the cards every year since I stopped hand-writing them.
* My philosophy on newsletters is that, while I enjoy reading the few we do get, if our recipients need an annual newsletter to know what we’re up to, we might not be as close as we once were. Social media has bridged some of that gap, of course. Sometimes, the less said, the better. Aligned with that, I’ve tried to trim our card list every year; if we don’t get a card from someone outside the immediate family two years out of three, that’s one fewer card that gets sent next year.
** Fuji X-T1. I bought it just before the X-T2 was announced, with a pretty reasonable discount. I don’t have a lot of glass for it, but compatibility isn’t an issue if I decide to update the body at some point.
yeah, we monitor send/received list so we don't send to anyone who doesn't want
I rarely, if ever, read the newsletters and can't even conceive of sending one.
We did cards with photos of the kids forever. The year Elaine died, I just did a card with the three of us, which definitely pulled at the heartstrings (and the way a couple of people realized she died). Last year I culled the list significantly (75%), just had a card of a nature photo I took with an inspirational poem that I also composed and sent it to close family and friends. Very secular. Will do the same this year.
Half-Baked Hall poll is up. I didn't put an expiration. Just get your vote in, the 16 of you who do it.
I absolutely love the new windows we put in the house this summer, but we identified 4-5 that had moisture/fogged up when we hit 17° a while back, plus earlier on we had some where the sash did not slide well, etc. Still, the company has done a good job of replacing the defective ones (no charge) so aside from the follow up annoyance, the windows have made a huge difference to our inside temps.
Try some silicone spray on the sashes, I swear by that stuff. I also use it on all of the door seals on the cars, plus on radiator hoses and vacuum lines. Keeps them nice and pliable.
sound advice, although I'll save that for down the line; in the meantime, it's their issue to get them right to begin with
so, uhh...
"uhh..." indeed. Pretty sure just "Mussels" would sound better. "Mighty" seems like they're trying too hard.
There's a lack of lilting alliteration without the "MIghty."
Did a Geodude fan take over marketing?
If they change it to Rochester Giant Rock Snakes, I'm out.
If this name catches on, it's a miracle.