Christmas letter wording help?

I have two brothers and two sisters. One brother and one sister and their families live within 20 miles of my parents and see them a lot. My mother still works part time at a grocery store and is in fairly good health. My father has off and on health problems but so far, seems to be keeping them in check. Okay here's the situation that really bugs me. My brother and his family live in Colorado. They visit Nebraska once a year and my parents visit them at least once a year. (and I'm starting to worry about my parents making that 7 hour drive across Nebraska) Anyway, my mom has made several comments about how hurt she is because my brother's wife won't take the time to even talk to my mom. My brother does call my parents about once every other month and has his kids talk to them. My parents call my brother and his family but always seem to catch them at a bad time. So, anyway, get my drift? So I want to put some kind of "hinting" wording in a Christmas letter to them - like I'm starting to worrying about parent failing health and realize that every minute is starting to count with them, etc. etc. and phone calls seem to mean a lot. I thought maybe I would mention something like mom & dad call me and vice versa just to check up and I am beginning to value these conversations. Any suggestions?

I think you are on the right track with the words that have already come to you to say: that you value your conversations with your folks very much, especially now that their health is failing, and every moment with them is precious. It's always a good idea to use "I" statements when you're trying to get a sensitive point across without pointing fingers. Your intuition is very sound.

Good point, WR. If you stick to relating "personal" experiences to them at first, maybe that will be enough to nudge them in the right direction. They're probably just clueless of how their actions effect others.

Thank you for bringing up the subject, I just called my 94 yr old Grandmother! I'm way too lax in that area. I think about it and then suddenly it's after 9pm and too late to call.

Please don't think too harshly about your situation with your SIL, not all of us are "hard wired" with the close family gene. My inlaws call every Saturday & I don't answer the phone if my DH isn't home. It's not that I don't like them, we just don't seem to have anything in common and the conversation becomes strained. I do talk to them about once a month and get caught up on the family happenings that DH doesn't pass along from his conversations with them.

As far as your CO brother's relationship with your parents, there's nothing you can do to force him to communicate more. One thing that has nudged me in the right direction has been positive reinforcement. My DF & DM (G'Ma is her mother) have both called me a few days after I called G'ma just to say that they had talked to her and all she could say was how nice it was that I had called.

I hope I was able to offer another insight,
Sue