When my eldest was a year old, I began writing an annual Christmas Eve letter. They were tucked away to be delivered, one per year, from the time they left home. They've left home. Here's the story.
Can I just say I'm floored that you're able to write like you do while listening to music, heavy metal no less!? Wow, you have a more complex brain than I imagined if you have to keep part of it wildly distracted with Jon Bonham. I can't listen the dryer while I'm writing without getting distracted.
I (almost) always write to music. I don't actually hear it when it plays. It's more of a cocoon somehow. Having said that I set off to write my Letters just now (I finished moments ago) playing AC/DC (I was going big and old school), but I ended up turning music off altogether. I couldn't find my way into the cocoon this Christmas. A quiet bedroom, the light hiss of the heating pipes and a steady stream of tinnitus were my soundtrack.
Merry Christmas, Ben. I'm delighted to get to know you this year and become friends.
Jeez , I’ve only just been introduced to you ( albeit a one sided intro). I can already see and hear you perfectly in your turn up the volume , out loud rumination.
Feels like those stress dreams I had in college. There’s an exam today and I never opened the text book…
Waking up in a cold sweat.
Finished scrolling , and well satiated. Your story will stay with me for quite sometime .
“I find myself in the stained glass room of the heart”. Yes that line. It pretty much defines the whole story for me.
How I wish my father had started the same tradition. I stare down into my own empty hands and picture holding an endless stack of letters I would have cherished for a lifetime.
Be glad you didn’t decide to make it into a daily journal instead of an annual stress test.
So nice to meet you.
I needed a belly laugh while I wrap presents for the distant relatives I didn’t want to buy for.
And I do apologize, I know , you turned off the comments but I couldn’t help myself.
Oh , and just a reminder for next time.
“Your stair-/-way lies / on th’whisp-/-ring wind “
Thank you for this lovely Christmas Eve note. I just wrapped up my Christmas Letter for the kids. Every year I think there's not much to add or say, but then four or five pages go by... I'm very glad I started the tradition.
Thank you for sharing as well. We now have a two-sided introduction.
The last weeks I was up caring for my 90yo dad and then he went into hospital and I was helping my siblings from afar. Missed your writing. Letter to your kids is a wonderful gift. Better than slippers or a video game! I may have to copy you.
While visiting my dad I came across a folder of letters that I wrote my grandmother while I was in college. She must have given the letters to my mom years ago. We are in process of digitizing all of my parents old photographs.
Reading the letters was a trip through history (almost 50 years ago). I plan to do something creative with them, just not sure what yet.
Best wishes to you and yours for a Merry Christmas and a happy 2024!
I finished up my letter to the kids. They will open it when my wife and I are in our late 70s. Incredible. I hope I'm there to send it to them. This year had engagements, and college graduations, and careers unfolding and grandparents passing, and their mom and dad's 30th and, well, life unfolding as it does and must.
This year my son opens a letter from when he was in Kindergarten and my daughter was two. He'd left a note to the tooth fairy that he wanted to fly that I didn't find in its hiding spot creating a problem I had to unwind very carefully.
Now I'm off to a watch a movie with my grown daughter. I'm lucky enough to have her all to myself for a few days here. Here's a tiny excerpt because I'm in quite the Christmas Eve Post Letter Mood:
"I hope you’re home for Christmas when you read this. If you are, and we still get along then please find me in the next room, come in and tell me you love me, and thank me for all those presents in ’04. If you’re not home, then you can get on the phone or whatever they use to talk with in our future and let your Old Dad know you’re out there."
She'll open this tomorrow morning and she better come find me in the next room and thank me for the presents in '04. Note to dad: they still have phones in 2023.
What a wonderful piece of writing. I wish I’d thought of starting a tradition like this. Maybe it’s not too late yet?
So many phrases I loved, a few I LOL’d (eg, sneaking presents into kids’ rooms is like paintball to you) 😂 But this one struck me hard with a truth I first felt when my son was little. (He’s 22 now and as delightful as ever.)
“They are love letters, and like all love letters they come from the heart of love which is part gratitude.
Finally got around to reading this and it was worth it. I’m in the same boat at times- why did I even start these letters. There’s a level of intimacy that you’ve been able to achieve with writing them privately. I admire that. I guess the ones I write are for the world and for him at this point. This is an other sign for me to print them out and put it in a binder for him. Thanks for showing me this.
As time rolls on those letters -- however they are directed -- will probably become deeply meaningful for you (and him.) I started giving the ones I wrote to my children three or four years ago. The children treasure them, and there is so much that is preserved of the time they were written it's really special. I doubt it will be any different for you.
Thanks for reading. I felt a little bit like I was giving you a reading assignment, but your work was just so similar to mind in (some) ways that I wanted to connect over it.
And I am several years behind putting them in a binder.
I had it on radar ever since I read one of your post a while ago. Deirdre Lewis (I love her work) personally recommended you. I'm happy you reminded me with your message. There is so much to read, so little time, and a 9 month old that demands my life. So thank you, this encouraged me to keep going because honestly it's not easy. BUt this reminds me that it's so worth it.
This is a beautiful tradition. I have been toying with the idea of leaving my kids letters but somehow haven’t been able to put pen to paper. Elder one is 2.5 years and younger one is 2.2 months old. I love the part where you say that you’ll truly have left on your terms, that your kids will have you for another 20 years. That just hit home. I’m going to go find my vibe and dot the i’s! Thank You Adam.
Find your vibe. My children have appreciated it deeply now that they are grown. Now they are the gift at Christmas.
This is truly starting at the wrong end of a piece of writing. It's a piece I wrote about my first family, the family of my childhood. This is the very last chapter, but it starts with an excerpt of a Christmas Letter. Perhaps it will be of interest to you and a modest inspiration.
Definitely find your vibe. Don't make them perfect. They won't need that. Give them a little thought like you're doing in your profile picture and then have at it.
Can I just say I'm floored that you're able to write like you do while listening to music, heavy metal no less!? Wow, you have a more complex brain than I imagined if you have to keep part of it wildly distracted with Jon Bonham. I can't listen the dryer while I'm writing without getting distracted.
I (almost) always write to music. I don't actually hear it when it plays. It's more of a cocoon somehow. Having said that I set off to write my Letters just now (I finished moments ago) playing AC/DC (I was going big and old school), but I ended up turning music off altogether. I couldn't find my way into the cocoon this Christmas. A quiet bedroom, the light hiss of the heating pipes and a steady stream of tinnitus were my soundtrack.
Merry Christmas, Ben. I'm delighted to get to know you this year and become friends.
Jeez , I’ve only just been introduced to you ( albeit a one sided intro). I can already see and hear you perfectly in your turn up the volume , out loud rumination.
Feels like those stress dreams I had in college. There’s an exam today and I never opened the text book…
Waking up in a cold sweat.
Finished scrolling , and well satiated. Your story will stay with me for quite sometime .
“I find myself in the stained glass room of the heart”. Yes that line. It pretty much defines the whole story for me.
How I wish my father had started the same tradition. I stare down into my own empty hands and picture holding an endless stack of letters I would have cherished for a lifetime.
Be glad you didn’t decide to make it into a daily journal instead of an annual stress test.
So nice to meet you.
I needed a belly laugh while I wrap presents for the distant relatives I didn’t want to buy for.
And I do apologize, I know , you turned off the comments but I couldn’t help myself.
Oh , and just a reminder for next time.
“Your stair-/-way lies / on th’whisp-/-ring wind “
Here we go
volume up….
Thank you for this lovely Christmas Eve note. I just wrapped up my Christmas Letter for the kids. Every year I think there's not much to add or say, but then four or five pages go by... I'm very glad I started the tradition.
Thank you for sharing as well. We now have a two-sided introduction.
Merry Christmas, Lor. 🎄
Lucky kids!
Hope your archiving your music collection for them too.
I am now archiving their music!
The last weeks I was up caring for my 90yo dad and then he went into hospital and I was helping my siblings from afar. Missed your writing. Letter to your kids is a wonderful gift. Better than slippers or a video game! I may have to copy you.
While visiting my dad I came across a folder of letters that I wrote my grandmother while I was in college. She must have given the letters to my mom years ago. We are in process of digitizing all of my parents old photographs.
Reading the letters was a trip through history (almost 50 years ago). I plan to do something creative with them, just not sure what yet.
Best wishes to you and yours for a Merry Christmas and a happy 2024!
I finished up my letter to the kids. They will open it when my wife and I are in our late 70s. Incredible. I hope I'm there to send it to them. This year had engagements, and college graduations, and careers unfolding and grandparents passing, and their mom and dad's 30th and, well, life unfolding as it does and must.
This year my son opens a letter from when he was in Kindergarten and my daughter was two. He'd left a note to the tooth fairy that he wanted to fly that I didn't find in its hiding spot creating a problem I had to unwind very carefully.
Now I'm off to a watch a movie with my grown daughter. I'm lucky enough to have her all to myself for a few days here. Here's a tiny excerpt because I'm in quite the Christmas Eve Post Letter Mood:
"I hope you’re home for Christmas when you read this. If you are, and we still get along then please find me in the next room, come in and tell me you love me, and thank me for all those presents in ’04. If you’re not home, then you can get on the phone or whatever they use to talk with in our future and let your Old Dad know you’re out there."
She'll open this tomorrow morning and she better come find me in the next room and thank me for the presents in '04. Note to dad: they still have phones in 2023.
Merry Christmas, Scott. 🎅🏻
What a wonderful piece of writing. I wish I’d thought of starting a tradition like this. Maybe it’s not too late yet?
So many phrases I loved, a few I LOL’d (eg, sneaking presents into kids’ rooms is like paintball to you) 😂 But this one struck me hard with a truth I first felt when my son was little. (He’s 22 now and as delightful as ever.)
“They are love letters, and like all love letters they come from the heart of love which is part gratitude.
“And part good-bye.”
The love is tangible, what a beautiful gift you and your wife create(d) for your children.
Finally got around to reading this and it was worth it. I’m in the same boat at times- why did I even start these letters. There’s a level of intimacy that you’ve been able to achieve with writing them privately. I admire that. I guess the ones I write are for the world and for him at this point. This is an other sign for me to print them out and put it in a binder for him. Thanks for showing me this.
As time rolls on those letters -- however they are directed -- will probably become deeply meaningful for you (and him.) I started giving the ones I wrote to my children three or four years ago. The children treasure them, and there is so much that is preserved of the time they were written it's really special. I doubt it will be any different for you.
Thanks for reading. I felt a little bit like I was giving you a reading assignment, but your work was just so similar to mind in (some) ways that I wanted to connect over it.
And I am several years behind putting them in a binder.
I had it on radar ever since I read one of your post a while ago. Deirdre Lewis (I love her work) personally recommended you. I'm happy you reminded me with your message. There is so much to read, so little time, and a 9 month old that demands my life. So thank you, this encouraged me to keep going because honestly it's not easy. BUt this reminds me that it's so worth it.
This is a beautiful tradition. I have been toying with the idea of leaving my kids letters but somehow haven’t been able to put pen to paper. Elder one is 2.5 years and younger one is 2.2 months old. I love the part where you say that you’ll truly have left on your terms, that your kids will have you for another 20 years. That just hit home. I’m going to go find my vibe and dot the i’s! Thank You Adam.
Find your vibe. My children have appreciated it deeply now that they are grown. Now they are the gift at Christmas.
This is truly starting at the wrong end of a piece of writing. It's a piece I wrote about my first family, the family of my childhood. This is the very last chapter, but it starts with an excerpt of a Christmas Letter. Perhaps it will be of interest to you and a modest inspiration.
Definitely find your vibe. Don't make them perfect. They won't need that. Give them a little thought like you're doing in your profile picture and then have at it.
🙏
Poignant. Inspiring. Love. What a gift.
Thank you. What a gratifying response for me. Thanks for taking the time to read my work and also for your note. 🙏