The holiday brag letter, which people send to update friends and family on their achievements of the past year, isn’t quite as full of its usual upbeat holiday cheer this Christmas. In this time of recession, the holiday letter has taken on a considerably more downbeat tone. With little good news to go round, many are using the letters to inform people of lost jobs, passed-up vacations and their generally rotten year. One car dealer tells the Wall Street Journal that his letter this year will include the line “For God sake, buy a car!” An out-of-work software manager writes, “Please keep me in mind if you know of a Boston-area organization that can use entrepreneurial, business management, or technology management skills.” While it might seem a depressing trend, for those who tend to view Christmas letters as either over-the-top or pretentious, this has been a welcome shift.