For a writer, one of the most tedious aspects of recurring events, such as holidays, is the fact that people expect clichés. Oh, don't get me wrong – they'll all claim they want to see something original. But what they really want is the familiar dressed up in new clothes. This leaves you with the problem: just how many ways can you go over the same ground and still keep it fresh? This year, I have a few solutions to offer.

• You remember that old chestnut, the Christmas Letter? At first, everybody sent chatty round-robin letters. Once that got tedious, people started writing parodies, like this hilarious one by Icy North. Great, now what do we do for an encore? How about composing your round robin in the form of a jocular business report on the firm of Your Family & Co? Or an anthropological treatise? 'The offspring of this tribal group appeared to be intent on overachieving this year…' Or go all fancy and turn the account into a fake video trailer for a movie or hip-hop song, like this sartorially-challenged family?
• What about holiday cards? You could be bold and refuse to rhyme your poem. You could use current news for inspiration. You could even refuse to allow the season to force you to choose between optimism and pessimism, opting instead to write more philosophically. Me? I think this year, I might even build my holiday ecard around that comet they landed on. If I can find a public domain image…
• Have a Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa pageant to script? How about dodging the obvious – ponderous history or 'true meaning of…' – and go flat-out modern with ice skates? Your younger audience members will be thrilled. The older ones? Not so much, but they'll be good sports about it.
• Fiction and essays? Eschew the same-old, same old. Either talk about what's on your mind this year, or reach as far back into the past as you can. What about a story about the year before your holiday got started? Or how the holiday might be observed in the far distant future, on a distant planet, by aliens who don't look like us at all?

Okay, even these ideas are not entirely original. But hey, there's nothing harder to do than freshen up an old tradition. Of course, you could make up one of your own. Like the fellow from Nebraska who always said, 'The manger scene is never the same without the T Rex…' It turns out his tiny hometown always put the crèche in the municipal park, right among the dinosaur statuary…

Tradition is as you find it. Believe it or not, until a couple of decades ago, nobody EVER watched It's a Wonderful Life at Christmas. This 'tradition' was thought up by TV cable companies. It might just as easily have been the much-better It Happened on Fifth Avenue. What traditions would you like to make up? Or revive?

The key to freshening up holidays is probably keeping an open mind. Look around, see what others are doing. What may seem startling one year is an old friend a few years later. Do you now think fondly of the Hallelujah Chorus flash mob as a grand old tradition?

Merry Christmas, wherever you are, and Hanukkah blessings, and Kwanzaa greetings, too. Celebrate, be happy, and share. And let us know what you did to freshen up your stories.

Writing Right with Dmitri Archive

Dmitri Gheorgheni

22.12.14 Front Page

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