It’s been a tradition in my family for three generations…

Grandpa Marvin and Grandma Mary started sending out a annual Christmas card picture the year their first child was born. I’ve heard that Grandma often included handwritten notes in each, until she finally began sending the same photocopied letter to everyone sometime in the 1980’s. When my parents were married in 1982, they continued the tradition, sending a photo along with a letter each year.

I know the tradition isn’t unique to our family. And many an annual update and family photo are delivered via email or social media these days. But I think the purposes of the tradition remain the same, even though the manner looks a bit different than it did when my grandparents began sending Christmas card photos in 1957.

To pause and write an annual family letter is one way to reflect on the ways the Lord has provided throughout the year. To schedule that family photo is to make sure everyone appears in a picture together sometime that year. To address each envelope is an opportunity to pray for the person who will receive it. To receive that letter or see that photo online is a reminder of those we have known and loved, across the years and across the miles.

When I look back on the letters we sent in those early years of our marriage, they stand as memorial stones of God’s faithfulness to us. The Christmas letters my mother and grandmothers have written become more precious each year as a record of our family’s history. Just as the cards with beloved signatures look different when we realize it may be the last one we’ll receive written in that hand.

Grandma Mary wrote her last letter this year, just a few weeks before her death. She shared her cancer diagnosis, expressed her gratefulness for the health she had enjoyed through the years, and closed with an assurance that she knew the Lord was in control and He knew the number of her days.

It’s a legacy for which we’re so very grateful. And a tradition I hope to continue, for Grandma’s sake as well as our own.