#Christmas Letter

[dragon-kazansky]

hi babe! for your christmas letters, can i get a cute little something from Rooster? 🩵 my name’s Haley to make it a little more personal! thank you! xo

Dear Haley,

Christmas is right around the corner, and that means the new year, too. Can you believe another year has come and gone? It flies by so quickly, but at the same time I can think back on the fond memories we made this year.

I remember last Christmas when we kissed in front of the tree and had that photo taken. May still has it in his locker. He's proud of the people we have become.

I'm proud of you.

I can't wait to spend another year by your side. We're going to get up to so much more and make even more memories. There be even some surprises awaiting us too.

For now, I'll let you rest and enjoy the rest of your evening. Just don't forget to look under the tree tomorrow, okay?

Sweet dreams,

Your Rooster.

[antvnger]

On the 12th day of Christmas, Ant-Man ((and Ant-Mun)) gave to you:

A Christmas letter.

Dear you (yeah, you!),

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, this is for you (yeah, you).

I know it sounds super cliche, but where the heck did this year go? I feel like I was just coming up with all this kind of stuff for you last year. What a wild ride, gang. It’s been good though, and I hope it’s been as good for you as it has been for me.

This blog has grown a little bit since last year okay maybe more than a little bit, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it so far. You guys are something else, and I love you all a ridiculous amount. I never really expected to get so much interaction when I started this whole thing, but oh my gosh, it’s been wild.

This whole tumblr-multiverse is a crazier place than the Quantum Realm, and I outta know! I mean, heck, I met Captain Hook. Me! I was the first adult Lost Boy he’d ever come across! I dunno if that’s exactly a good thing or not, but whatever, I met him. And loads others I never would have thought possible.

I’m getting off track. That was a big problem I faced while writing my book. Sometimes I just write my thoughts as they pop up in my head, and that leads to a lot of ADHD tangents and thoughts falling down the rabbit hole, and next thing I know I have no idea where I was going or where I have been. Anybody relate? Man, I wish I could send you all free copies of my book for Christmas, but this will have to do.

I’m not just writing a letter to you. At least that’s not the only thing I’m doing. Hopefully, you’ll find more in this little letter than just some words from a rambling guy. I’ll leave it to you to figure out what you could find, because what one person may receive from this may be completely different than someone else reading. 

And that’s part of the magic.

My Gigi used to say, “Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and ta-da! Everything is softer and more beautiful.” I think she said she heard that from someone else, but I’m gonna ignore that and say she came up with that all by herself. Regardless, it’s true.

Once Halloween is over (or once Thanksgiving is over if you’re like Ant-Mun), the Christmas season suddenly shows up like when you would go to sleep with no snow on the ground and wake up to a world of white. I’ve been blessed enough to have witnessed such magic a few times while growing up, and if you don’t know what that’s like, I hope you get to experience it at least once someday. It’s worth it.

But anyway, the Christmas season really does have its own brand of magic, and I am all about the magic. It spices the air and calms the atmosphere all at the same time. There’s extra love in hugs and cards and “Hey! How are you?”s, and for a little while, you can let loose a sigh and there’s some peace. The world isn’t where it needs to be, but for a short time, it feels like it comes pretty close.

I really could go on and on about Christmas and what it means to me, especially the first Christmas. I could write for days on that topic, just typing my thoughts as fast as my fingers can to try to keep up with my brain, but I don’t think I could ever do it justice. And that really isn’t the point of this letter anyway. 

Here’s the point:

Dear you (yeah, you!), you are loved.

You are special.

You are priceless.

You are essential.

You are not a mistake.

You’re not junk.

You matter.

You’re seen.

And you’re loved.

Right here, right now, as you read this, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, whatever you’re thinking, however you’re feeling, whether today is a good day, a shitty day, or just another Monday, you’re loved.

At the very least, you’re loved by me; you’re loved by Ant-Mun; and you’re loved by the One who designed and created you with the greatest intention and the utmost care. There’s nothing else in the world I’m more sure of than that.

So whatever your situation today, just soak up that truth. Let it marinate and let it warm up your soul. And I really really hope with everything I’ve got that you feel that love and the truth of that love today.

And do me a favor please? Indulge in your inner child today and find some magic. I mean, c’mon, it’s me. I’m definitely gonna advocate this part too. Indulge in your inner child today and find some magic. It’s all around after all. It’s strongest today. You just gotta open your eyes to it, and you’ll find it.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, happy holidays to those who don’t,

And most importantly, lotsa lotsa lotsa love,

Scott ((and Ant-Mun))

[hobbit-in-kuroshitsuji]

Kuroshitcember 2022 Prompt Nr. 11

Prompt: Finny writes a letter to St. Nicholas. What does he write?

You can find all prompts here!

All of these will be uploaded/archived to this blog's Ao3 eventually

Summary: Finny feels he already has everything he wants... so he asks for a slightly different Christmas present. CW: fluff :3 they're just one big family

To santa Saint Nicholas,

Finny here. Mister Sebassian Sebastian has teached been teaching me to read and write. It’s difficult. I am trying my best. Sorry for the mistakes!

Tanaka told us servants that you read letters. The letters are what we want for Christmas. So I’m giving it a go!

I don’t want nothing anything given to me for Christmas. The young master has given me everything I want. And Mister Sebastian sure is good to us!

What I want instead is the young master to get something he can smile about. The young master never smiles anymore (that is Ciel Fantomhive Phantomhive. Tanaka says you know where we be living live if you know our names?). Maybe you could give him some special chocolate? He likes sweets. Or maybe a puppy? Those make people smile.

I think Christmas will be great if my lord could smile. Especially for him.

Thank you.

I’m going to let Tanaka check my spelling and give this letter to Mister Sebastian. He says he will deliver it to you. I don’t know how! Are you friends?

Don’t forget to tend the fires up there in the cold! Bye bye! Goodbye!

-  Finnian Gardener at the Phantomhive Estate.

__ taglist: @eemoo1o-animoo

[hclib]

Season's Greetings from the Frasers

The mail is full of holiday letters this time of year. The U.S. Postal Service expects over 1 billion cards to flow through their boxes. For decades, Don and Arvonne Fraser sent the long kind of holiday letter -- full of family triumphs, tragedies, and goings on of the last year. The Frasers never had to worry that their family did not have enough anecdotes to fill the multi-page letter. With six kids, the Frasers would have already had plenty to share. On top of that, Don Fraser was a state senator (1954-1962), U.S. representative (1963-1979), and the longest serving mayor of Minneapolis to date (1980-1994). Arvonne Fraser was her husband's campaign manager and a fellow at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs before serving as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Arvonne Fraser Library is named in her honor.

A nearly complete set of 4 decades of the Frasers' holiday letters are available in our Collection on Donald Fraser (M/A 0086).

[pauldouglasonline]

Paul Douglas’s Christmas Message 2022

Paul Douglas’s Christmas Message 2022

Paul Douglas, BSc (1st Class Honours) delivers his first Christmas Message to the nation and the commonwealth. And indeed, the world. A brand new, totally insufferable Christmas Tradition is born! Merry Christmas, folks! (more…)

[chicoinematt7]

The Simple Catholic’s Third Christmas Card

My parents are still too tired and busy (it seems like adults are always tired) to pitch in to help with the Christmas card. Noah, Amelia, and Josiah decided they can’t help beacuse it would intrude on their Nitendo Switch, artwork and cartography time. It’s up to me (again) to provide a whimiscal and semi-accurate summary (of shenangians) of our year. I’m going to turn five soon. “I can’t…

[urbanventures]

Merry Christmas from Urban Ventures

Dear friend,

The Christmas season, with its joy and cheer, is one of my favorite times at Urban Ventures. Our campus buzzes with a special sense of hope and delight: children at the Cornwell Early Learning Center decorate for the holiday, students in our Reading Plus program receive new books, and families in our neighborhood and programs gather to celebrate together.

Yet, the essence of this season lies in understanding the full Christmas story. We are privileged to know Jesus’ life beyond his birth – stories of healing, radical love, and the expansion of heaven’s gates. His life, culminating in a death that wasn’t an end but a crucial step in his divine mission, gives us every reason for great joy.

However, if we only knew of Jesus’ birth, we might see it as tragic. Born on a journey to resource-strapped parents in a setting far from ideal, his arrival was unnoticed by most in Bethlehem. If it were today, we might sing carols about a birth in an alley amid an indifferent city’s bustle. Jesus’ entrance into the world was under challenging, stressful, and seemingly impossible conditions.

This Christmas, the dichotomy of celebration and struggle seems particularly poignant. In our work at Urban Ventures, we constantly witness the tension between the overwhelming challenges our neighbors face and their extraordinary hope and resilience.

This year marks our 30th anniversary. Reflecting on a generation of supporting South Minneapolis families, we’ve served over 100,000 people, aiding them in their pursuit of better lives. We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to make a real impact in our community.

Yet, much remains to be done. Our neighbors still confront significant challenges. But, in these needs, we find opportunities to continue our mission and love our neighbors wholeheartedly.

We’re celebrating our progress too. Our literacy intervention program is expanding, aiming to serve twice as many students. Our violence prevention initiatives are setting new standards for cities nationwide. And soon, Urban Ventures will launch its inaugural vocational training program, offering high school seniors paid training in trades alongside life skills coaching.

All these achievements, and much more, are possible thanks to your support. While the transformations on Lake St. might not be immediately apparent to all, you recognize God’s work here and have joined our mission to spread joy, celebration, and hope throughout our community.

Thank you for supporting Urban Ventures. May you and your loved ones have a blessed Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and a joyous holiday season.

With thanks,

Dave & the Urban Ventures team

[humorwithatwist]

Christmas Letter (2023 Edition)

Merry Christmas Friends and Family, We hope this missive finds you well, warm, and enjoying many festivities celebrating the birth of our King Jesus! After a year’s hiatus (more on that below), we return to our (admittedly, millennial) tradition of the digital Christmas letter. We missed sending a letter last year because, well, 2022 was interesting. After spending the early months of the year…

[sugulovai]

Hello from Elf. Elf on the shelf. Christmas elf. Letter from Elf.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1607393209/letter-from-elf-first-time-elf-arrival?click_key=54529b443e4657c7b4d34b92b311ec7283036b9f%3A1607393209&click_sum=41609d54&ref=shop_home_active_1&sts=1

[heartorbit]

stay warm! 🌟🍬🤖🎈

[gifs-of-puppets]

Happy Hanukkah!

[dragon-kazansky]

🎶I think you know where it’s about to go🎶

Hi Mama Fire Lizard!

Could I please request a letter from the fast as fuck boi (AKA Pietro)? Im fine with whatever your beautiful genius mind comes up with letter wise, and I’ll let you pick between Amanda or Mana.

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays

Love,

Your Birb 💛💛

My dearest Mana,

Hello, my sweet. I wasn't sure how to start this letter, but I've been thinking about it all night. First off, Merry Christmas. I love you. This will be our first Christmas spent together, and I'm excited. There is so much I want to do with you.

When you wake, you'll find a little box under the tree. It's nothing much, but it's all yours. I chose it myself.

I'm going to have to go for a run and burn off some of this energy. I can't wait for you to get up so we can celebrate together. Today is going to be the best day of our lives, I promise.

I love you so much. I'll never stop telling you that as long as you're with me.

See you later, my sweet.

Pietro.

[kyreniacommentator]

2022 Christmas message of Hope from Heidi Trautmann

2022 Christmas message of Hope from Heidi Trautmann

Dear Family, dear Friends, Here I am, sitting in my Eagle’s Nest on the 7th floor of ‘Tower 34’ with St. Hilarion just opposite. We have had the 1st of December 2022 and honestly, I don’t really know what to say to you with my Christmas-and End-of-the-Year Letter.  Such a message is supposed to be cheerful, with a positive outlook into the future, but I am afraid this is just what I cannot…

[thedaveandkimmershow]

I used to not be a fan of Christmas letters. They seemed so perfunctory.

Of course what I really meant by that was they seemed like something old people do. Like own condos and drive minivans.

With the passing of time, yes. My opinion's changed. Part of it, I'm sure, is because now I'm "old people". The other part, the larger part (I hope), is that, more and more, I'm curious about what kind of year it's been. So much of it, you see, rushes by, relentlessly in motion. A lot of what I experience is sheer present tense. Which is why I leave bread crumbs through various posts and blogs. Messages, if you will, from Past Me to Present Me.

It's as if the motion of time almost guarantees that a lot of memories don't settle in tight and therefore aren’t immediately accessible upon mental review. So when I do explore the things Past Me documented, sometimes I'm quite literally surprised by the things we've done. Often that has less to do with the What we did than the When we did it. As in I'm often surprised that certain things happened in one given year. Surprised by how many things happened at the same time or back to back to back to back. Because seemingly my brain stores experiences sequentially, each in their own box. Everything's so cleanly separated in my memories once they present themselves that they fail to capture a certain messiness and chaos that is a feature of living.

This morning I finished the nearly final draft of our Christmas letter and, yes, I am taken by what happened this year. By what literally piled up on top of each other. By what did go back to back and back to back. I'm impressed by the fullness of our days even as they're colored in shades of awesome and shades of pitch black. There's a lot of threads running through our days, is my point. Just as there are running through yours, I'm guessing..

And one way to at least be aware of those threads and how they overlap, parallel, and pile up...

Is the yearly Christmas letter.

Go figure 

😐

[acknowledgetheabsurd]

I want you everywhere, all of you, and I will always want you. Yes, always, and don’t talk to me about “if…” or “maybe…” or “as long as…”. I want you, I know, it is a need and I will put all my heart, all my soul, all my will and all my cruelty even, if it is necessary to have you.

Maria Casarès to Albert Camus, Correspondance, Christmas, 1948 [#43]