Widespread mocking of those family letters some people insert in Christmas cards certainly didn't make them go away.

For that, I suppose we can all be thankful.

But did you know that there are now extended-family summer-in-review letters? Oh, yes. Not all families have someone eager to appoint himself or herself to this task. But some do. And as with almost all writing projects, the reviews can be mixed.

I was reminded of this less than an hour ago in a South Hill grocery store. A guy talking on a cell phone was weighing in on the merits of a recently emailed family summer letter written by someone else.

I didn't hear it all. But I feel safe in saying he gave it two thumbs down.

Maybe he was talking to a sibling or cousin who also felt slighted by the seasonal roundup in question. 

"There was hardly anything about things that happened at our house," he said as we made our way up a beverage aisle. "And we did a lot of stuff."

 I guess the memory of those good times will have to be reward enough. Some things, after all, just don't get reported.

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