How to Write a Christmas Newsletter

The weeks leading up to Christmas can be the most hectic of the year. You have presents to buy and wrap, food to cook, goodies to bake, cards to send out, and decorations to put up. As full as your days may be, don't forget to put together a Christmas newsletter to send out to friends and family to update them on your year.

This doesn't have to be a painful process if you use the following suggestions for putting together your Christmas newsletter.

1. Make a list of the major events that have happened over the past year. Keep the list short and sweet. You can go into detail later. If you got a new job, had a baby, or made the Dean's List at college, write it down for inclusion in the newsletter.

2. Get together any pictures you want to include in the newsletter. You should include a recent picture of yourself and family (if you're married) and you mean want to include pictures from any major events that have taken place, such as your marriage, new baby, or graduation.

3. Decide on the type of paper you want to print your newsletter on now, so you'll have everything together to make the process easier. If you want to use paper with Christmas designs, then go ahead and make the purchase.

4. If you have a scanner at home, scan your pictures and save them to your hard drive. If you don't own a scanner, then use a friend's or use one at the library and save the images to a disc or a thumb drive.

5. Sit down at a computer that has Microsoft Office or Microsoft Works and decide which program you want to use for your newsletter. I prefer to use Microsoft Word and just copy and paste my pictures into the document, but you may want to use Microsoft PowerPoint or the Newsletter template from Microsoft Works.

6. Take your list out and start writing. Keep your audience in mind when writing your newsletter. If there is something you would share with a friend that you wouldn't want to share with your grandmother, then create more than one newsletter to distribute.

7. After you've finished writing and putting the pictures on your newsletter, proofread it to make sure it is error-free and that you have included everything you want your family and friends to know.

8. Before printing the newsletter, write down a list of everyone you plan to mail it to so you will know how many copies to print out.

9. Print your newsletter and put the copies in envelopes. If you have more than one newsletter, be careful not to mix them up! Address the envelopes. To make this easier and less time consuming, use printed mailing/return address labels.

10. If you want to include anything else with your newsletter, such as a personal note or picture for that extra special friend or family member, now is the time to do it to save on postage later. Otherwise, seal up those envelopes and send those newsletters out.