I thought it might be fun to occasionally link to some old posts that sparked fun conversation. In honor of the impending holiday, I'm reviving my query about Christmas letters: a sincere effort to K.I.T or just an excuse to brag?

The letters go something like this:

Sara, 8, has the lead in our community play, Aaron, 10, was recently voted the most gifted and talented child in school and now that Emily is 3, she's started reading. Between ferrying the kids around to school, church and extracurricular activities, Beth gave birth to our fourth child in September. He's already beginning to crawl! Howard has been promoted to CEO of The World. We took three vacations last year to tropical paradises (see attached photos). We are truly blessed, and may God Bless You.

I wrote that post two years ago, and though I didn't mention it then, we had just received a professionally photographed, tri-fold, full color Christmas card from a former colleague of my husband's that included a letter.

This colleague had gotten married and promptly quit her job to travel the world for a year with her husband. In short order, they produced two kids, built their dream home from the ground up, and she, the letter took pains to point out, was running eight-minute miles in the charity races she participated in mere months after her daughter's birth.

It was the eight-minute miles part that took it right over the edge for me...probably because even pre-baby, the best I could do was 10-minute miles. My gut reaction was, "Good for freakin' YOU. Thanks so much for sharing."

Hee. That's the only holiday letter I can recall that made me want to punch someone. I think that was the last year we received a card from them, so I am sadly not up-to-date on their latest exploits. ...sad sigh...

I did notice this is the first year that fully 90% of the cards we have received have been photo cards. Seems they're now the norm rather than the exception. When did you start sending photo cards? We sent our very first one out in 2000, because we were about to close on our first home. We went to the house, which was still under construction, and posed on the porch while holding the "SOLD" sign.

Which, come to think of it, was probably seen as bragging by some. Alanis would call that ironic.

What were some of the most memorable holiday cards you've sent or received? Do share...