When I was a kid, a few people of our acquaintance, maybe old friends of my parents or distant cousins, wrote annual Christmas letters to update us on events of the previous year. Nothing unusual about that. It’s a fairly common practice.
I remember those missives as being rambling, melodramatic, and bristling with exclamation marks! I also recall the greeting “Dear All” being used, so copies could go to both relatives and friends.
To my recollection, we didn’t hear from the letter-writers again until the next Christmas letter. And, in truth, I haven’t read a Christmas letter in years, since no close relatives wrote the things.
The letter-poem below is satirical, but some people think the author tempers his shots with a touch of fondness; he is more gentle than he could have been because, in general, we perceive the senders’ intentions as being innocent and mostly positive. Fair enough.
As for the origin of “The Christmas Letter,” I found no details, but it was published as early as 1977.
As for the author, it may or may not be John Nelson Morris, a professor of English Literature at Washington University in St. Louis, who died in 1997.
Anyway, to all y’all, Merry Christmas !!!!
———
The Christmas Letter
By John N. Morris
Wherever you are when you receive this letter
I write to say we are still ourselves
in the same place
and hope you are the same.
The dead have died as you know
and will never get better,
and the children are boys and girls
of their several ages and names.
So in closing I send you our love
and hope to hear from you soon.
There is never a time
like the present. It lasts forever
wherever you are. As ever I remain.
Mr. Write's Page 
my mom did this religiously for decades and kept the whole family together!