Archives from the Original: Peace on Earth 2001-2009

Hi. While I was at Mom's house last week in Louisville my Uncle Bill handed me a flash drive he had found in my mom's boxes while unpacking. I told him to throw it out, it was probably trash. He handed it to me anyway, and I planned to throw it out later. I decided to glance at it for a quick check before I trashed it and of course, it is a gold mine. Thank you Uncle Bill!

The flash contained the original upon which my annual imitation is based, the Mike Kelly Xmas letter from 2001 through 2009, his final letter. I'd never read them through in one sitting, rather each year when the new edition came out. Read sequentially they reveal what we all already know, he was a man who loved has family deeply, valued his friends, took his work seriously and was so, so funny.

The measure of any year for me was the mentions in the annual letter and I'm proud to say I make most of these, but of course cannot compete with the granddaughters.

I can't get his permission to republish them, but I am pretty sure he would be okay with it, as he mailed these out to hundreds of people each year.  Here, unedited, are some Mike Kelly Xmas letters 2001-2009:

2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009