I recently published the December 25, 2025, online edition of the Burdett Bugle (Volume 31, Issue 1). That is the fancy name that I have given our annual Christmas letter – for the past 31 years.
My wife and I got married in 1981 and we apparently avoided Christmas letters until 1990. Then (through 1992) we wrote and mailed out “typical” (newsy and braggadocious) Christmas letters, although ours was lengthier than most (2-3 pages). When I say that “we” wrote, I mean that “I” wrote. This has always been my little part of our Christmas tradition; my wife buys and wraps presents, and I write the Christmas letters. Sounds fair to me.
The Burdett Bugle – 1993 to 1995
Then, in 1993, I had the idea of converting from the traditional “letter” format to a more polished looking “newspaper” format (with a masthead and sections on “The Weather,” “People in the News,” “Travel News,” “Sports,” “Engagements,” “Classified Ads,” and “Obituaries”). I stole the name of the “Bits ‘N’ Pieces” section from the local newspaper – the Omaha World-Herald. .” I tried to write with a third-person tone, like a real newspaper reporter (e.g., Bob and Terry blah blah blah).
A male hamster named “Guess What” required the first obituary in 1993; he died of suspicious circumstances, outside his cage, with our two cats looking on. “Milo” one of the cats and “Guess” (another hamster) were in the 1994 obituary section. There was no connection between the hamster’s death in 1993 and the cat’s death in 1994.
For a name, I chose Burdett Bugle; obviously incorporating the family name and the “Bugle” identifier used by many real and fictitious newspapers (e.g., the New York City tabloid named the Daily Bugle). The Burdett Bugle’s motto (“All the news that’s fit to toot!”) was a knock-off of the motto used by the New York Times. The motto acknowledged that some private family stuff was being intentionally withheld. The initial Bugles were four pages in length (17”x11” paper folded) and printed in black and white. The printing process for that generation of Bugles was a bit crude (e.g., the photographs were pasted into place – before moving on to the printing press Xerox machine.
Below is a photograph of the first page of the first Burdett Bugle. Note the sophisticated illustration accompanying the “A Purr Fect Christmas Tree” article.
The Burdett Bugle – 1996 to 2012
In 1996 we ratcheted things up a bit – adding color. My wife was working at a church that had a color copier, which employees could use for a nominal fee – making the color upgrade affordable.
The production process had also improved. Microsoft Word had come along, and photos could be inserted electronically. The resolution of the photographs also improved, making it possible to stuff more photos onto fewer pages. The toughest part of the production process was the sizing and moving of the “text boxes” and photographs around to fit neatly on the pages. Given the increased printing costs (for color), I decided to limit the paper to just two pages, which I am sure was appreciated by our readers.
Over the next sixteen years, the production process changed as the “color printer” situation changed. I purchased a color printer and used it for a while, but that printer drank ink like a drunken soldier. For a while, we printed both color and B&W copies – color for family and good friends, and B&W for less good friends and more casual acquaintances.
Below is a photograph of the 2005 issue of the Burdett Bugle. As you can see, the color added a little zip. You might also note that I incorporated a little Photoshop (the white moustache on the page one masthead teaser). The obituary for my father-in-law took up about 25% of that edition’s space. Kazuji “Mike” Oshima had led an interesting life.
The Burdett Bugle – 2013 to 2025
The rise and fall of the Burdett Bugle mimicked the rise and fall of the newspaper industry. When the internet came along, the paper presses could not compete with the immediacy of laptops and cell phones. Yahoo news impacted the newspaper business. Facebook impacted the Bugle. As production costs skyrocketed (color ink and postage), the Bugle editor (me) decided to go electronic.
In 2013, the Burdett Bugle moved to Pinterest. I opened an account and named it “otisthecat,” not thinking about the ongoing implications of that choice.
Pinterest was and is built around “boards” and “pins.” Each of the electronic Bugles is a board (e.g., this year’s newspaper/board is named “bugle2025.” Each of the newspaper stories (a picture with a heading and text) is a pin. The production process is relatively simple – select the X pictures/stories that you want to include – and pin them to the board already created:
[1] Select and prepare (e.g., cropping, photoshop) the pictures.
[2] Come up with brief/attention grabbing “headlines” (i.e., the headings).
[3] Write (brief/crisp) texts to tell the stories.
[4] Pin the pictures, headings, and text (stories) to the board (in reverse order, the first page of the newspaper is pinned last).
Alas, Pinterest was not designed for Christmas letters, and Pinterest has changed over the years. Initially, it was easy to link to the Bugle via its URL. Pinterest now “encourages” you to use their app. Initially, you could sequence through the Bugle from front-to-back, seeing the pictures and reading the stories. That is not as simple these days because the Bugle looks and works differently, depending on whether you have installed their app, and/or what type of device you are using (smartphone, tablet, laptop). Initially the headings/headlines were printed below the photographs; not anymore.
During the switch to Pinterest, my newspaper rules also got blurred and sloppy. The third-person reporter style has for the most part reverted to the first-person style of a typical Christmas letter (e.g., We blah blah blah).
Below is a screenshot of what was displayed on my iPhone when I typed in pinterest.com/otisthecat/bugle2025 and selected (up on top) “All saves” versus “More ideas.”
To read the Bugle on my iPhone (and maybe your brand of smartphone):
[1] Click on the first pin (the elf and bird in the upper left corner) to get an expanded view of the picture, the “Heading” (a brief “headline” below the picture), and a bit of the accompanying story.
[2] Click “See more” to see the full text/story.
[3] Slide your finger across the screen (right to left) to read the Bugle in order (Pin 1 to Pin 26).
If I use my laptop, viewing is more difficult, as the pins do not sequence. The laptop process is more “back and forth” (and annoying). As previously noted, Pinterest was not designed for Christmas letters, and it changes, from year to year, as their software is modified; but Pinterest is free (versus ink and postage). Such is the nature of the newspaper business.
Christmas Cards and Letters
Every year, we seem to get fewer Christmas cards and Christmas letters. I blame social media (e.g., Facebook). Thirty-one years ago, when the Bugle was first published, it was a way for us to keep in touch with the people in our lives that we did not see or hear from very often, mostly because of distance. The typical Christmas letters back then may have incorporated a photograph or two, but they were rare.
Many of the people on our 1993 Christmas mailing list are now friends on Facebook – and vice versa. Instead of a letter once a year, they get almost instantaneous updates on whatever we want to share. And not just words – photographs and videos are prevalent.
As regards Christmas letters, there have always been lovers and haters. I personally look forward to newsy letters with lots of photographs. I don’t always read them as they arrive, but I will savor them before they are filed away (in the reindeer basket) until next year. The Christmas cards I hate are the store-bought cards with printed messages like, “Merry Christmas,” and nothing else except a signature. The only thing worse is when that signature is machine printed on the card. Why bother?
The latest trend, especially for younger families with kids, is what I refer to as “postcards in an envelope,” with a few pictures of the family and a few words printed on the cards. I am somewhere between “tolerate” and “like” for these types of cards. They are not very newsy, but I like the photos and they are easy to stuff away in a drawer for future reference. They are certainly better than nothing, and much better than the “Merry Christmas” cards noted above.
As to religious versus secular, “Merry Christmas” versus “Happy Holidays,” boxed Hallmarks versus freebie charity fundraising cards; I am very tolerant. I send out a lot of freebie cards (with the Bugle URL) but I draw the line at sending out any cards (even beautiful ones) that claim, for example, that “a Mass will be said in your name …) when no such arrangements (or contributions) were made.
My paper Burdett Bugle passed away in 2013, and I have some regrets. I was pleased a few years back when my son, with a young family, chose to publish his version of the Burdett Bugle. My son’s Bugles are savored and archived. And best of all, the Burdett Bugle lives on, at least for a while.