A Digital Christmas Letter

You can love them or hate them but at this time of year, you are probably receiving them - "Christmas Letters".  I heard on the radio this week that today, with all of the digital forms of communication and social media, a Christmas card may be the only personal piece of mail most people receive in an entire year (thankfully, that's not the case for us but the quantity is certainly diminished).  And if that's true, then a nice note inside that single piece of mail, from a friend or family member can be pretty special.


Let's talk about that "elephant in the room" - the Christmas letter that makes you fell less-than-good about yourself and your family.  You didn't lose 25 pounds this year (or DID you?), you didn't scale Mount Everest, your family didn't volunteer for two weeks in equatorial Africa working to eradicate yellow fever, your child didn't make it to the top of every achievement list of scholastic, sport, civic involvement, or social improvement - but somebody / somebody's did and you get to read all about it.  Thanks to modern technology (read - cheap color printers), you even get to see the pictures.


My suggestion is that instead of feeling bad or envious; emotions sometimes hidden behind phrases like"who do they think they are, those pompous baboon's rumps", we rejoice with them and hope that all of their achievements and joys are a reality for them.  


Romans 12:15 (Phillips translation) says "Share the happiness of those who are happy, the sorrow of the sad" and since most people's Christmas news letters don't contain the "sad" stuff, let's share the joy. Come to think of it - that was the point of the first Christmas, God sending Jesus - good news that was meant to bring great joy (Luke 2:10).  I know that the Christmas newsletters you receive will not be announcing the arrival of the Messiah (although some will sound like they think they are close) - so just enjoy them.  Isn't it the season "to be jolly"?


So, with that in mind - here is the Rick & Nancy Cramblet Christmas newsletter.  We hope you'll share your "good news" with us as well!

Special Note - If you want a larger, more readable version of the newsletter below, click on it and then drag the larger image to your desktop - that should do the trick...