The holiday card tells everyone else how your year went. It’s cheerful, it’s edited, and it comes with a photo in which everyone is looking roughly at the camera. What it can’t do is tell you how the year felt. A Christmas letter, written now and opened next December, can.
I like a good holiday card as much as anyone. But I’ve noticed that by the second week of January, the year it described has already been smoothed into a few talking points. A letter written in the middle of the season keeps the part the card leaves out: the actual texture of the month.
Why a Christmas Letter Works
December is strange for memory. It’s crowded with traditions that repeat, so every year starts to blur into the last one. The same cookies, the same box of ornaments, the same argument about whether the lights go up before or after Thanksgiving. The repeating parts are comforting, and they’re also exactly what makes it hard to remember this year’s version.
A letter pins it down. Not the traditions, which will be there next year anyway, but the specifics around them: who was in the kitchen, what you were worried about, what you were quietly hoping for. Next December you’ll know the cookies. You won’t remember what you were carrying while you made them.
There’s also something pleasantly low-stakes about the format. Nobody expects a letter to yourself to be good. It doesn’t need a theme or a photo or a resolution. It just needs to be written by someone who’s actually standing in this December, which, a year from now, you won’t be.
If you’ve already written a Thanksgiving letter, this is its cousin. The Thanksgiving version is about what you’re thankful for. This one is about what the season is actually like.
When to Write It
- Right now, before the season starts. You have patience, a clear calendar, and time to pick a delivery date. This is the least stressful window by a wide margin.
- The week the decorations go up. You’re in the mood, and the house is a little ridiculous in a way worth documenting.
- Christmas Eve, late. Presents wrapped, everyone asleep or pretending to be. Good for a short, honest letter. Not great for planning mailing logistics.
- The week after. The wrapping paper is in a bag, the house is quiet, and you have an accurate sense of how the holiday went. Often the most truthful draft of the lot.
What to Include
- The state of things, in plain terms. Where you live, what you do, who’s in the house, what’s going on at work. The dull facts are the ones you’ll have lost by next year.
- What this December actually looks like. The schedule, the guest list, who’s hosting, who’s traveling, which relative is bringing the dish nobody asked for.
- One thing you’re quietly worried about. Name it. Next year you’ll find out whether it was worth the sleep.
- One thing you’re quietly looking forward to. It doesn’t have to be Christmas-related. It rarely is.
- A gift you’re proud of, or one you got wrong. Small, specific, and funnier in twelve months.
- A person, by name, and why they matter this year. You can thank them separately. The letter is where you get to be thorough.
- A prediction. What will be different by next December? Be specific enough to be wrong.
- A question for next year’s you. Something you can only answer after living the year.
Prompts to Get You Started
- What does the house sound like right now?
- What are you pretending not to be stressed about?
- Which tradition would you keep if you could only keep one?
- Which one are you quietly ready to retire?
- Who is going to be hardest to see this year, in either direction?
- What’s the best gift you’ve given so far, and what made it work?
- What did you want a year ago that you no longer need?
- What’s changed since last December that you didn’t see coming?
- What would you tell the person unwrapping this letter next year?
- If next December goes well, what’s one thing you hope is true?
Make It a Household Ritual
If you want to turn this into something the whole house does, keep the rules small. Everyone writes their own letter. Nobody reads anyone else’s. Each one is sealed and set to arrive a few days before next Christmas, and you open them together, one at a time, ideally with something warm to drink.
The “nobody reads anyone else’s” rule is the one to defend. The letters only work if they’re written as if no one is watching. Next year, people can share if they want to, and most will, because a year is long enough to make almost anything funny.
And if you’d rather not start another tradition from scratch, the annual letter tradition covers how to keep one going once it’s started. It turns out the second year is the hard one, and the third year is easy.
How Hold My Letter Makes This Easy
The tricky part of any letter to next year is the next-year part. A note tucked into the ornament box is a lovely idea until the ornament box moves. The Digital Future Letter is $9: type it at /write, choose a delivery date, and we print it, seal it, and mail it. If you want your own handwriting waiting under next year’s tree, the Handwritten Future Letter is $19: you write it on paper and mail it in, and we store it and mail it back, sealed, on the date you pick. Delivery runs one month to two years out, to US addresses only.
If your holiday letter is really a year-end one, the New Year letter is the neighbor worth reading next, and letters to open at milestones covers the dates that aren’t in December.
FAQ
When should I write it?
Anytime between now and the week before Christmas. Early is easier: nobody's wrapping, and you can pick a delivery date without a shipping scramble. If you're mailing in a handwritten letter, early also keeps it out of the holiday mail crush.
Should it arrive before Christmas or on it?
A few days before. A letter that lands on December 25 has to compete with everything else that happens on December 25. One that arrives a week ahead gets read on a normal evening, with the tree on and nobody yelling about the oven.
Is this a family letter or a letter to myself?
Either works, but they're different jobs. A letter to yourself can be blunt. A letter for the household works best when each person writes their own and you open them together. One shared letter written by committee tends to read like a press release.
What if this Christmas is a hard one?
Write that down. A letter that says this December was heavy and here's what got us through it is worth more next year than a cheerful one you didn't mean. You don't have to make it festive, only honest.
Digital or handwritten?
The Digital Future Letter is $9: type it, and we print it, seal it, and mail it on your chosen date. The Handwritten Future Letter is $19: you write it on paper and mail it in, and we store it and mail it back, sealed, on the date you pick. Delivery runs one month to two years out, US addresses only, so next December is comfortably in range.
Write the letter. The cookies will be the same next year. You won’t be.