So we received our first, and hopefully, only Christmas update letter in the mail today. I am left completely confused. I do know the people that wrote it though not so well to have deserved the inside information that their letter provided. Honestly, even if we were close friends it is doubtful I would care about much of what was written in that thing. But then that sort of begs the question "If you are family or close friends with someone wouldn't they already know most of these things you drab on about? And if you aren't close friends why would that person be interested?" Which presents my incessantly chattering mind with another question -- "Just what is the intended demographic here?"
It left me with an oddly mixed up feeling. I can't quite shake the ridiculousness of the correspondence yet they don't seem to fit the stereotypical bill of senders of this type of thing. If it had come from my Great Aunt Norma then I'd get it. That's just normal conversation for her. The kinda stuff a person learns early on that there's no need to listen to because there's no meat or real sense in the message. It's just talking to be talking. So you sit with your old aunt, pour another shot of whiskey, throw in a few well placed "uh-huhs" and you're good to go.
But I don't know what to do with this. It is so cliche that it's even cliche to make fun of it. That's how bad Christmas letters are. The kind of humor you can listen to Jay Leno go on about every year. But I really can't help myself. And I'm not so much making fun of it as I am trying to make sense of it all. I feel obligated to let these folks know how...stupid?...unnecessary?...bothersome? SEE? I can't even come up with a word to describe it. But I have to let them know.
They seem to have a decent sense of humor so maybe this is all a joke or some sort of sociological experiment to see who their REAL friends are. This Christmas season I will be one of those true friends and I will tell them what I think. Maybe in a letter.
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