Let’s be honest. Most Christmas letters are terrible.
They read like annual performance reviews dressed up in holly. Somebody’s kid made the dean’s list, somebody ran a half marathon, and the whole family went to Tuscany.
Good for them.
A good Christmas letter, one that’s funny and honest and sounds like an actual human wrote it? That one gets read out loud at the kitchen table. That one goes on the fridge.
This post shows you how to write that letter, the one people look forward to opening, the one that makes someone across the country feel like you just sat down with them over coffee and said, “Here’s what this year was really like.”
Inside This Article
- Why most Christmas letters miss the mark (and the easy fix)
- A framework for writing one that feels personal
- What to leave out
- Opening lines that aren’t “What a year it’s been!”
- A sample Christmas letter
- What to do when you’re having a hard year
- How to make a mass letter still feel personal
- The Best Christmas Letter Sounds Like You Actually Wrote It
Why Christmas Letters Get a Bad Rap
The Christmas letter has a reputation problem. And honestly? It earned it.
The classic offenders are everywhere. Third-person family updates that read like press releases: thinly veiled bragging about vacations and promotions; two-page single-spaced recaps of every event from January to December that nobody on earth is going to finish reading.
The problem isn’t the Christmas letter itself. The format is fine. The problem is that most people write them like they’re trying to win the year instead of share their year.
A great Christmas letter doesn’t read like a highlight reel. It reads like a letter to a friend. It’s warm. It’s specific. It has at least one moment that’s funny or honest or real. It makes the reader feel something other than “cool, their kid plays travel soccer.”
That’s all you have to do. Write to a friend. The fact that you’re sending it to forty people doesn’t change the tone.
What to Include: The Christmas Letter Framework
You don’t need to cover every month. You just need to hit these six things.
1. One honest highlight. Not the most impressive thing that happened, the thing you’re most grateful for. Maybe it’s the vacation, but maybe it’s the fact that your kid learned to ride a bike, or that you and your partner started doing Sunday crosswords together. Pick the thing that actually mattered, not the thing that sounds the best.
2. One real struggle or funny disaster. This is the secret ingredient most Christmas letters are missing. Vulnerability makes the entire letter land. “We flooded the basement in March and ate cereal for dinner every night that week” makes you human. A letter with no struggles reads like a commercial.
3. The small stuff. What you’ve been watching. What you’ve been cooking (maybe include the recipe!). The hobby you picked up and immediately abandoned. The book you can’t shut up about. These details feel insignificant, but they’re the ones that make people feel like they actually know what your life looks like right now.
4. A moment that captured your year. One story. Not a list: a story. The road trip where the car broke down and somehow it became the best weekend. The night your daughter said something so funny you had to write it down. One good story says more about your year than twelve months of bullet points ever could.
5. A personal line to the reader. If you’re printing the same letter for everyone, this part comes as a handwritten note at the bottom. More on that below. But even in the printed text, write like you’re talking to someone specific. “I hope you’re having the kind of year that makes you laugh more than it makes you worry” feels personal even at scale.
6. A warm wish for their year ahead. Close the letter by facing forward. Not a generic “Happy Holidays”; something with a little more heart. “I hope next year gives you rest.” “I hope we finally get to see each other.” Make them feel sent off with warmth.
What to Leave Out
The achievement rundown. Your kid’s GPA, your promotion title, the marathon finishing time. These are fine to be proud of, but listing them in a letter reads like a résumé. If you want to mention an accomplishment, wrap it in a story or a feeling. “Jake graduated in May and I cried in the parking lot” hits different than “Jake graduated summa cum laude from Ohio State.”
Anything that reads like you’re trying to win. If a sentence makes you sound impressive but not relatable, cut it.
Health details nobody asked for. Exception: if something major happened—a diagnosis, a surgery, a loss—it’s okay to be brief and honest. “It was a tough year health-wise, but we’re hanging in there” is enough. You don’t owe anyone the full medical rundown.
Passive-aggressive commentary. “Despite some VERY challenging circumstances, we chose to stay positive.” Everyone can feel the anger under that sentence. If you’re going through something hard, be direct or leave it out.
Anything you wouldn’t say to the person’s face. That’s the gut check. If it would feel braggy, awkward, or oversharing at a dinner table, it doesn’t belong in the letter either.
The Annual Family Letter vs. the Personal Touch
Here’s the tension: you’re writing one letter and sending it to dozens of people. That’s fine. Mass letters are the whole point of a Christmas letter. But there’s one trick that changes everything.
Add one handwritten line to each copy.
At the bottom. In your own handwriting. Something specific to that person. “I miss our walks — let’s make it happen in January.” “Your pumpkin bread recipe got me through November.” “I really hope you’re doing okay after everything this year.”
One sentence, ten seconds of effort. That single line turns a form letter into a personal letter in the reader’s hands. They won’t notice the printed part is the same as everyone else’s. They’ll just feel like you thought of them specifically.
About photo cards: Photo cards are great. People love seeing your family, your dog, your new house, but a photo card with no words beyond “Happy Holidays from the Garcias” is a missed opportunity. Even three or four handwritten sentences on the back turn a photo card into something someone saves instead of recycles.
Tone: How to Sound Like Yourself
Write in first person. “We had a wild year” not “The Martinez family had a wild year.” Third person makes you sound like a narrator instead of a friend.
Write to your favorite person on the list. Imagine you’re writing to the one friend who would laugh at your jokes and actually care about your garden update. Write to them. Everyone else will feel the warmth, too.
Be funny if you’re funny. Don’t force it. Forced humor in a Christmas letter is painful for everyone. If you’re naturally funny, let it come through. If you’re not, warm and honest is just as good.
Keep it to one page. This is non-negotiable. One side of one page. Nobody wants to flip a Christmas letter over and discover there’s more on the back. Say what matters, cut the rest.
Opening Lines That Aren’t “What a Year It’s Been!”
That opening is so overused it’s basically invisible. Try one of these instead.
Warm and reflective:
- If I could sit across from you right now with a cup of coffee, here’s what I’d tell you about this year.
- This was a year of small, good things. Let me tell you about a few of them.
Funny or self-deprecating:
- I’ll spare you the highlight reel. Here’s what actually happened.
- This year I learned that I cannot tile a bathroom, no matter what YouTube says.
Honest and real:
- This wasn’t our easiest year, but it had some beautiful moments, and those are the ones I want to tell you about.
- I almost didn’t write a letter this year. Then I realized you’re the reason I wanted to.
Short and punchy:
- Big news: we got a dog. Everything else is secondary.
- Three things happened this year: one was great, one was terrible, and one involved a raccoon.
A Sample Christmas Letter
Here’s what a Christmas letter looks like when you use the framework. One page: warm, honest, a little funny.
December 2026
Hey friends,
I’ll spare you the highlight reel. Here’s what actually happened this year.
The biggest thing: we moved. After twelve years in the same house, we packed everything we own into a truck that was definitely too small and drove across town to a place with a backyard and a kitchen that doesn’t flood when it rains. The move itself was chaos. I lost my favorite mug in the first box and didn’t find it for six weeks, but sitting on the new porch with coffee that first morning felt like the deep breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.
In less triumphant news, I tried to learn sourdough. The starter smelled like a crime scene by week two. I’m back to buying bread like a normal person.
Lily started second grade and came home on the first day and said, “Mom, my teacher has a bird in the classroom and I’ve decided that’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” We’re leaning into that energy for the rest of the year.
I read a lot of books this year. The one I keep telling everyone about is a novel called Remarkably Bright Creatures. If you haven’t read it, please do so I have someone to talk to about it with.
I hope this letter finds you warm, well, and doing something that makes you happy. I thought about every single one of you while writing this, and I mean that. You make my life bigger just by being in it.
Merry everything, Rachel
P.S. The dog is fine. She ate a sock in October and we don’t talk about the vet bill.
See what that does? One highlight that’s honest, not braggy. A failure that’s funny, small details that feel real. A book recommendation. A kid story that’s charming without being a humble-brag, and a closing that feels personal even though it’s going to forty people.
Like a person including you in their year.
The Handwriting Question
Typed and printed is completely fine for Christmas letters. That’s the whole tradition: one letter, many copies. No guilt there.
But two things make a printed letter feel personal:
First, sign it by hand. Always. A printed signature at the bottom of a Christmas letter is a missed opportunity. Your handwriting says, “A human touched this before it went in the envelope.”
Second, write one line by hand at the bottom. Already covered this above, but it’s worth repeating because it’s the single highest-impact thing you can do with five seconds of effort.
If your list is small—ten people or fewer—consider handwriting the whole thing. A fully handwritten Christmas letter is rare and beautiful. It takes more time, but the people who receive one will notice.
When You’re Having a Hard Year
Maybe this year was rough. Maybe you lost someone, went through a divorce, had a health scare, or just survived a year that felt like it would never end.
You have permission to skip the letter entirely. Nobody is keeping track. Take care of yourself first.
But if you want to write one, you also have permission to be honest. “This wasn’t our best year” is a perfectly valid opening. You don’t have to go into detail. You don’t have to perform happiness. A short, real letter about a hard year connects more deeply than a fake cheerful one ever could.
Something like: “This year was hard in ways I didn’t see coming. But there were bright spots: a few kind people, a few beautiful moments, and the stubborn belief that next year will be better. I’m holding onto that. I hope you are, too.”
That’s a Christmas letter, and it’s one somebody would keep.
Common Worries (And Quick Answers)
“Nobody reads these.” The wrong people don’t read them. The right people do, and the right people look forward to yours more than you know.
“My year was boring.” Boring years make the best letters. When you don’t have big milestones to lean on, you write about the small stuff, and the small stuff is what makes a Christmas letter feel like a conversation instead of an announcement.
“I don’t have a family. Can I still send one?” Of course. Christmas letters aren’t just for families. If you’re a single person, a couple without kids, or someone with a non-traditional household, your year still matters, and the people in your life still want to hear about it.
“What if someone on my list is having a hard year?” Keep your letter warm, not boastful. If you know someone specific is struggling, that’s where the handwritten personal note at the bottom does its work. “Thinking about you especially this year. I’m here if you need me.” Problem solved.
“How many people should I send it to?” As many or as few as you want. There’s no magic number. Some people send a hundred. Some send ten. Both are fine. Send it to the people you care about and let the list be whatever size it is.
The Best Christmas Letter Sounds Like You Actually Wrote It
Not like a committee drafted it. Not like you’re campaigning for Family of the Year. Just like you: a real person with a real year, talking to people you genuinely care about.
One page, one highlight, one honest moment. A few small details that make people feel like they just spent ten minutes in your living room.
More letter writing help:
- Read our guide, Ultimate Guide to Writing a Letter
- Need someone to write to? Find a PenPal
- Want some special stationery? Find a Stationery Mail Club
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