so where might I find a "newspaper-style" template for xmas letter

[Lorien]

I'm getting all organized this year and am planning to send out a generic Xmas letter to friends and family. (I've always been rather dismissive of them in the past, but we have been overseas for more than 10 years and I think its about time) Anyway, self-justification apart, does anyone know where I might find a template for a "newspaper-style" one pager? Thought it might be marginally more amusing than a standard round robin, with pictures and some funny headlines, but can't find what I'm looking for through google. Any pointers?

Many thanks, Lorien

what computer platform and software do you have already?

Hey stripy mouse, that was quick. I have windows xp and nothing particular in the software department. Just the usual wordprocessing, xcel, whatever else it came bundled with. But if you could suggest some good software, that would be a real help. I've no idea where to start. (Even though I've been a journalist for 15 years, I haven't a clue how the pages are actually set out....)

Many thanks, Lorien

havent you got msicrosoft puclisher?
thats soes that a treat * (thusands of homeworks set this way ehn I was a history teacher)

Just bumping this up in case there is anyone out there who could give some advice on software needed for a xmas letter published like a newspaper front page? I don't appear to have Microsoft Publisher on my machine. But I can always go out and get that or some other software (if only I knew what I needed...) Lorien

why don't you just use Word - add columns and pictures at will!

the problem is (if you don't mind me saying) that these things can look highly naff unless done properly. a program like Quark would do it brilliantly but not sure how long it would take you to pick it up.

Oh God, don't send a Round Robin letter, they're so awful! I appreciate if you're living abroad, you've probably got a lot of people back home to keep abreast of family news, but NO ONE likes receiving one of these generic letters. Frankly, if you're not friendly enough with someone to take the time to write a personal note, then they probably aren't that interested in your family news either.

My godfather moved to Australia a few years ago and a couple of years back, I started receiving one of these family letters. I have to say, our relationship since then has taken a bit of a dive. The way I see it, if he can't be bothered to send me a few personal lines on email every once in a while, then I'm clearly not that important to him. And the tone of a round robin is always so bloody self-congratulatory: "This year, Child 1 won such-and-such a prize at school, while Child 2 took up the clarinet and played in lots of concerts... we finally moved house, so-and-so's job is going brilliantly..." it's just all so cringe-inducing. Don't do it, I beg you!

I think they are areally funny but would never send one myself - its hard not to just boast int hem or tell poeple what they shoudl already know if htey are true friends, but then I dont send cards at all IMo if you dont speak to poepl all year they arent really freinds.!

FWIW what we have done since we moved to Oz is sent a slide show of a dozen or so photos (sounds a big posey maybe but DH is a designer/photographer so no one is surprised as this is his medium) and written one or two lines and then asked for other people's news. Then the people who email back with gusto or any kind of interest get a generic letter that is inividually tailored at the start and the end.

We were very loathe to do the round robins, it takes a bit more time this way but then you actually know if people give a toss about the details of your new life.

Also, IME, it is easy to crow and brag about living overseas (I have to really button my lip with certain people as I LOVE living here and I want to tell the world) so if you don't do a completely generic letter you can take this into account.

HTH

we get one every year from a couple we met on holiday years ago (they're really nice people) - but its kind of become a joke and everyone asks if we've had 'the letter from the Queen' yet?

sorry my post wasn't much help I now realise you want to send a snail mail paper letter.

Do be careful though as a columnist in the Guardian holds a competition for the best ones in January

we get sone form some americans we knew as kids
shes a " realtor" and they hav e a very shiny lifestlye and very shiny teeth

it would be ok if it was funny and self-deprecating i think, but boasty ones are the pits

I WANT TO BE ON YOUR ROUND ROBIN LIST SUZYWONG

my mum gets one from a pair of middleaged homosexual men she met on holiday, they are not out of the closet but they detail every musical and caberet they have been to throughout the year. The paper was still moist after they caught Liza Minelli at the Paladium one time.

well your luck's in MissusWoman as we are in the midst of preparing one right now .. MWUAAHHH MWUAHH MWUAHHHHHHHHH

huzzah!

ooh ooh me too me too!

I married into a family who love sending these letters, they don't just stick to their own news they tell the news from the rest of he familly too. Annoying when you don't want that new pregnancey to be general knowledge, or even worse when they get the details of your life wrong!. Why would my sister-in-laws friends want to know about my life anyway? I started letters from my then baby trying to send them up and trying to be humerous. They contained very little factual info, but unfortunately I couldn't help correcting some of the obvious gaffs in the pil and sil missives.

Because of this I hate these, although Its good to know some things, I think you have to be sensitive about the news you are giving. If my mother did one she would find that the only real news she could give would be gloomy this year. So Its good noone expects one from her!

cap'n cod PMSL (bet they're REALLY white too)

I love getting Christmas letters from people with their news. From time to time we meet up with old friends who we haven't seen for 10 years or so, but with whom we have had this Christmas letter contact, and so haven't lost touch. Of course it would be great to write a long personal newsy letter to everyone ... but this is the real world, who has the time to do that?! A few scribbled sentences on a card, doesn't tell you anything.

We tend to send one every two or three years, depending on how busy we are, and whether we have anything particularly news-worthy to report!

What I REALLY HATE is round robins dressed up pretending to be personalised; a word-processed letter with a personal paragraph at the start.

Just thought I should add my POV to balance Lulupop's, as I'm sure loads of people do enjoy receiving them, even though they are often the subject of jokes.

Have never met anyone who enjoyed reading an impersonal round robin letter, sorry. They are impersonal and faintly insulting (if they weren't so laughable in the first place). As Weatherwax pointed out, no one's going to put bad news in this kind of letter, so by definition they're all self-congratulatory puffs. Really irritating! And who wants to send a letter that the recipients are going to a)laugh at, or b)resent?

If you've been out of touch for so long that this is the only kind of "newsy" letter you're going to send, what's wrong with picking up the phone and saying "Hey, sorry we'be not spoken for far too long. What's going on with you?"