Uh Oh

I love "Dear Abby", I read her column everyday. I love hearing what people are complaining about and what her response is. I also love pretending I'm an advice columnist and thinking of what my response would be to the questions she gets. Monday, there was the following question:

DEAR ABBY: I just received a holiday card from some relatives. Included with it was a printed one-page newsletter describing their past year's activities. I have received similar essays from them in previous years.
Why do these writings always inflate the deeds of the writer, almost to the point of laughability? It's as if they're saying, "After dashing back from our private audiences with Queen Elizabeth and the pope, we jetted off to Rio to help our dear friends, the Buffetts, launch their new yacht, which is 6 inches longer than the QEII. And our children are doing well. The oldest is a CEO and the younger was just awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry."
To me, the holidays are a time for reflection and reaching out to those less fortunate. The last thing we need to see is an exaggerated (or fictional) account of an ego-trip from somebody who just doesn't get the meaning of the holidays. -- ORDINARY GAL IN ROCHESTER

DEAR ORDINARY GAL: Many individuals -- but not all -- feel as you do about holiday newsletters. It may help you to remember that they are not being written to you personally. The communication you received is a form of self-promotion. So with that in mind, no law says you have to read them. Because you find them upsetting, toss them as you would any other unwanted piece of advertising.


I did not realize this annoyed people. I send out newsletters every year! I love getting newsletters, almost as much as I love getting Christmas cards with pictures. How many people feel this way? I was talking with a couple of girls that are from this area and they feel the same way, but I thought maybe it was because it's a small town and everybody already knows what everybody is up to, but apparently there are people out there that hate newsletters. I wonder how many people on our Christmas card list hate receiving our newsletters? Hmm.... Well, they may be in luck because when I went to print ours today, I discovered that our printer is not working. If Greg can't get it to work, we'll just be sending out Christmas cards with letters this year.

Anyways, I love getting newsletters. I think this lady has it all wrong. Newsletters are not an ego trip to the person writing them, they are a great way to keep in touch and let everybody know in a quick and easy way how you're doing. And since you're sending out Christmas cards anyways, it's a perfect time to update everybody. I hope that everybody on our Christmas card list feels the same way.