Wishing you a grammatically correct holiday season!

Many of you are probably just now sitting down to write and send your holiday cards for family and friends. That's why in this week's copywriting lesson I thought it would be nice to review the correct way to address holiday cards.

Rule No. 1: Never use an apostrophe when writing the family's name because you are addressing the entire family - not something they own.
Example of INCORRECT usage:
The Smith's
900 Merry Lane
Kansas City, MO 64110

Example of CORRECT usage omits the apostrophe:
The Smiths
900 Merry Lane
Kansas City, MO 64110

Rule No. 2: You must add "es" to the end of any family name that ends in "ch," "s," "sh," "x" or "z."

Examples of INCORRECT usage:
The Thomas's
212 Oak St.
Overbrook, KS 66524

Example of CORRECT usage:
The Thomases
212 Oak St.
Overbrook, KS 66524

If this seems a little strange to you, you can also omit the "es" and add the word family to the end.

Example:
The Thomas Family
212 Oak St.
Overbrook, KS 66524