Welcome to the
2020 Christmas Letter Swap!
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Every December, a plague befalls the mailboxes of America. Envelopes full of humblebragging, oversharing, and convenient omissions find their way into our homes, causing frustration, disgust, and rage. There may be nothing more obnoxious than The Family Christmas Newsletter. Seriously, nobody is dying to hear that your clan finally went to Disneyland, courtesy of Jim's promotion. Your niece got that bunion on her foot taken care of? Wonderful. And, honest to God, who gives a crap about how your Yorkshire Terrier is doing, ever. So what can we do about this? Unfortunately, there is no way to stop the flow of these vile missives. However, we can have fun with the format, make each other laugh, and receive some truly interesting mail. |
The 2020 Swap was a huge success!
All 50 participants honored their commitment and
sent really, creative, fun letters.
For the first time ever, no one made the Hall of Shame
for failing to do their part for the project.
Please click here to read this year's letters!
What Is This?
The Christmas Letter Swap is a writing project that aims to poke harmless fun at the questionable tradition of sending out obnoxious holiday form letters. It is an opportunity to do a little creative writing and receive some weird, fun holiday mail. In 2013, we had 40+ participants from all over the US, in 2015 hit six continents, and in 2019 returned with a successful swap and awarded a cash prize. (See some past entries!)
How Does it Work?
Participants will pen a letter on behalf of a fictional family of their creation and mail copies of it to five anonymous addresses provided to them. In return, they will receive letters from five fictional families, written by other participants in the project. Be creative! Anything goes. The swap is free and open to anyone, but we ask that you honor your commitment if you decide to sign up.
And Then What?
After the project ends, we will display on the website this year's letters (with your permission and anonymously if you'd prefer) so that everyone can share in the fun. We will randomly draw a $100 prize winner from the pool of participants who honored the commitment and followed the instructions. We will also add to the Hall of Shame those losers who signed up for the project, but did not honor the commitment.