Christmas Newsletters

Chocolatelovinggran

There's an amusing book based on the premise that the wife/ mother charged with this annual chore, started by writing a " true" and very frank account of their year, relationships with in- laws etc before starting the anodyne one. You'll have guessed that this was sent inadvertently and ....

Hello from the Gillespies! I really enjoyed this book.

We have always received a long Round Robin, from a friend we knew at college. We have kept in touch over the years but never managed to meet up. He came to stay with us in the summer and we thought the visit went well.
His missive, this year, whilst detailing his whole year has no mention of us. Do you think we have been edited out for some reason ? Most strange

RosieMaw, I quite agree. Milton Keynes, is actually very green and pleasant with woodland and greenery. the main roads have wide green treed areas either side and the greenery winds through the housing estates.

Today, having been a way for nearly a week we sat down and opened our cards and collected and read the letters.

No one boasting of their brilliant children or wonderful lives. only one description of a holiday, and that was exceptional. A family of six went to Japan, staying in hostels, walking through the countryside and staying with friends and their story of the holiday was fascinating.

ExaltedWombat

>They even wax lyrical about the delightful place they live - a new town well known for its intrinsic lack of beauty.

Milton Keynes? :-)

Ahem!
(Clears throat)
There are some beautiful Bucks villages with the MK postcode and parts of Milton Keynes itself which are leafy, beautifully landscaped, close to lakes or the canal -so don’t knock Milton Keynes!

hear about.

That sounds very specific to you Baggs rather than a round robin sent to everyone on a Christmas card list.
I had a lovely one today marked 'Round Robin, read or burn!' Of course I read it and was happy to hear it the various family members travels and cheerful Christmas.

Aveline

That's not necessarily true annsixty. Everyone has ups and downs but why write about the downs? I alway think people who perceive others as lying or boasting might have a bit of a chip on their shoulders...

Yesterday we received a short newsletter from my brother. He has never sent one before. It included a number of downs which, after my initial reeling, I decided was his way of letting us know the bare facts before any gossip got to us.

So there's one very good reason for mentioning 'downs.'

I had one last week that was pretty much 4 pages about their dog.... haven't quite finished it yet. ..

Gosh Lizzie44! "Hard work and sensible planning" goes straight out of the window when something like Covid comes marching round the corner, swiftly followed by an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis nightmare. And yes, as a previous contributor has stated, it IS smug.

I never sent one until the year my now ex left me and I didn't want to receive a lot of cards addresses to the 2 of us. He didn't do likewise so the(few) cards that previously he had sent out to people he knew but I didn't really, maybe I had met them once, or spoken on the phone, still came to us both. I reciprocated with a letter explaining the situation and suggesting in future they contact him at his new address. I don't believe that he kept in touch with any of those presumed friends as over the years I have had some letters addressed to him here
My letters are mainly to people who know my children so I include a little update on what they are doing, as well as a round up of the year, less than an A4, sometimes I've got 2 on A4 so just cut in half. I like to know if friends have had losses or other changes in their circumstances just so I know and am not insensitive. I do a bit about any significant health news, and little trips I've been on, never anywhere exotic or even abroad, I like to hear how people are.enjoyng life. One letter I don't miss is one from a friend of the ex who every year has dreadful health, as did the rest of his family, and all sorts of misfortunes, I felt very sorry for the family but didn't know them at all
I still do a few words personally to people just don't have time to do personalized full letters

Gosh Lizzie that is smug in the extreme

Hate the boasty smug round robins, three or four of which I can guarantee we'll receive every year. One last year ended up by saying "some might say we are lucky but we think of it more as being down to hard work and sensible planning". Haven't seen the family in question for many years and they never ask how we are. Have now deleted them from my list - a long-overdue decision.

>They even wax lyrical about the delightful place they live - a new town well known for its intrinsic lack of beauty.

Milton Keynes? :-)

I'm afraid I'm the opposite of some Gransnetters who dislike Christmas newsletters and am rather disappointed when long-standing friends put nothing in their Christmas cards apart from a name. Since I rarely now have an opportunity to see them during the year, I love receiving news in a card or "round robin" letter and if it's all about holidays and grandchildren's achievements, so what! At least they've taken the trouble to sit and write something, and most are personalised to me with an enquiry about my own life and family. With the eye-watering cost of postage these days, I can't see the point in sending a bit of folded card with a printed greeting and a snowscene (don't get me started on that topic!) without using it as an obvious opportunity to stay in touch. Christmas is rapidly becoming nothing more than a secular "shopfest", but I will continue to make it a time for sharing news and keeping in touch with friends and family.

Agree with LauraNorderr - enough of the gloom and doom already.

I agree with*lauranorder*. Xmas cards are basically to let others know you think about them and wish them peace goodwill and happiness. At least that's what it should be

I think they’re hilarious ! Think of them being read by Miranda Hart in her Call the Midwife persona.

It’s my view that a Christmas card is sent to wish others well, to add cheer and to show you care. Perhaps to catch up on the better news of the past year if there’s been no contact.
Health worries and our own problems have no place in a greetings card and can be imparted by other means at another time if we feel the need to share our woes at all.
Just my view. We’re all different.

i don't. It is obvious to anyone who meets my grandchildren just how wonderful they are, without me needing to blow trumpets for them

I don’t wait till Christmas to tell everyone how beautiful, clever and amazing my granddaughters are, I do it all the time😳🤣

That’s so thoughtless and tactless isn’t it? However well you may be coping with being on your own, it “twists the knife “ doesn’t it

I received this year's round robin yesterday and it was yet again addressed to Mr & Mrs harrigran, not acceptable. I am not sending them a card this year in the hope they take me off their list.
When DH died they wrote a letter saying how upset they were etc yet they couldn't make a note on their card list.

I know how OP feels and feel for her! The variety of replies have made me think however. One in particular we receive used to tell us (boast?) about wonderful family events and multiple holidays; sadly now it’s a litany of hospital visits, waiting times and blunders.
Sad that it has come to that, hopefully there are happy moments too?

Some of you may enjoy the Janet & Roy round robin threads on Mumsnet. This year’s is www.mumsnet.com/talk/christmas/4946911-janet-and-roy-round-robin-letters-2023

As someone with American family and friends, I get quite a lot of the things, not all equally enjoyable or welcome.

We get several but only one was ever boastful/unrealistic (they likened their holiday to the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, don’t know if they went on to liken it to the flight into Egypt as I didn’t read that far!). I don’t know what they say nowadays as I never read them. Others are just a few lines or a photo montage of their children and a few lines in the card or simply just a note in the card and nothing else. I enjoy all of the these.
Don’t worry Marydoll most of us know what you mean! 😉