What do you think of Round Robins?

I get two chatty "round robins" from America. They include bits of news about family, trips, health, etc. etc., and usually include a handwritten note to me, commenting on some of my news from the year before.

I receive one card enclosing a "round robin" from this country from someone who, because of a rather obscure family connection, I feel obliged to exchange cards with. It consists entirely of tales of exotic holidays and lengthy expeditions to faraway places, home refurbishment projects, children's promotions, etc. etc. and even mentions people that I have not a clue as to who they are. I read it to my friends in our writing group and we compete with each other to write the most pretentious and grandiose Christmas round robin. Great fun.

I particularly look forwards to one Round Robin which is of the "we just had the time to fit in a third holiday - to Dubai" variety. Although there are many pictures of the new extension/ new car/ holiday view from room, there is never a single photograph of a person.
Weird, but it amuses me, and I'd hate them to stop coming...

I used to receive a Christmas letter from someone who wrote a sentence throughout the year of what she and the family had been up to and then sent it off with the cards. The entries included gripping info like " We visited Ted and Alice and had soup and sandwiches" or " We thought about volunteering for a charity but didn't do it"
As these missives were pages long it I read it at night and it bored me to sleep. Not all bad then.

Postage????? £3:15 per card for family and friends in US, Australia and Asia.

I too love getting them to keep in touch with friends all over the country and abroad - i feel really cheated when they just sign their names and all i know is that they are alive! I send a lot of cards because of having moved around and I do send a RR myself but as i know lots of people hate them I only send it to the 20 or so who send one to me. I then have to hand write another 30 or so which takes ages and the news is pretty much identical do it seems such a waste of time! There is also a personal note to everyone .

I send and receive RRs - I love to hear how my far-flung friends are doing. Happily none are boastful but instead full of interesting news and they are all mercifully short! I used to write a note in all my cards but arthritis in my hands has cut that out, and I see these RRs as a really good way to catch up on things.

We do get a boastful-type hand-printed card from The Other Granny detailing some piece of sculpture they've had commissioned for their garden, or similar. This year it's seeing some rare birds at dawn at a bird sanctuary near their "manoir" in Normandy ......

We tend to make a standard letter on the laptop and then personalise it friends we don't see often, leaving out the bits we know they won't be interested in and adding bits we think they would like. I think all the snide remarks about round robins are a pity, as it discourages people from writing them. We like to receive news from people we haven't seen for sometime even it is the same one sent to everyone. At least we know they are still alive!

I don't send round robins by email, bit I do send the odd E greetings cards. I think they are a brilliant idea, and there are so many to choose from.
Some are traditional and some are very funny.
And the best part is: some are absolutely free.
So if you want to bring a smile to someone at Christmas or birthday, send an e greeting. You really can't go wrong.

Very handy if you have forgotten to send a card to anyone too.
Recently sent one to my sister in Australia as missed posting date.

Not everyone has an e-mail account though, especially very elderly relatives!

True Ana and I'd much rather have a card, as I suspect would elderly relatives.

I have a confession to make. Last years round robin from a very boastful person, whose children are geniuses, even have universities fighting over them at one point, they are musical and sporty, natural team leaders. She and her husband designed their own house and were head hunted as well. The round robin was left in the envelope unread, I cannot bring myself to look at it, thought I would wait until I felt up to it as it makes my accomplishes look very paltry indeed,but I never did feel up to it. Now any minute another one will pop through the letterbox so I really need to read last years and write a congratulatory letter back, I cannot miss two. Please do not tell me I should be ashamed, I am, and I will get round to it.

I think the answer to RR that are designed to show how well someone's family is doing is to ignore them when replying! Just a cheery - Hope you are all well and all best wishes for Christmas and 2016 should suffice!

I know that's mean and could look like sour grapes but what the hell, they are not real friends anyway or they would be underplaying their genius children's fantastic accomplishments for fear of making you feel bad about your sadly underachieving family.

Awful! I get one every year by e-mail and it's full of all the things mentioned by other Gransnetters. It makes me want to say rude, outrageous things in return, but I never do. A hand written card would mean so much more, especially as the sender is a cousin.

I write a round robin every year as I reckon if people don't like it they can bin it or laugh at it. I try hard to keep it from being a 'boastagram' and to include family news with an upbeat tone. It's always a variation of the same thing: our news, kids' news, house, garden, jobs, holidays, retiring, health, visits and special events.

I receive a couple of similar letters from others and always enjoy reading them and catching up with what people are up to. It is often amusing when I know what they have done to see the disparity between the narrative and the reality. I especially relish the one I get where the correspondent refers to herself by name in the third person. That one is definitely of the 'water skating budgerigar' genre.

What is there about Christmas not to like?

I really cannot stand them! Has anyone ever received one that reported:

'Our lad has ended up in the young offenders' institution again, but he might just be out for Christmas - if they agree to tagging him, of course. Our lass is doing really well too, she didn't make top of the class, but is going on Jeremy Kyle in the New Year so that they can do a DNA test on that lad that made her pregnant a couple of years ago. My Fred is still out of work, but we get by just fine, because he's really good at diddling the social!'

No, I've never received one like that either.....

Funny you should say that Marelli, I have similar thoughts but naughtier

So did I, grannylyn65, but I thought I'd better not post them !!

No I don't like them. The ones I get are all about the writer I did this and I did that. Crashing bore, I only skim over for anything important, never is anything so I stick them in the bin. If and when I send a letter I do it in my own handwriting and try to keep it light and amusing.

I'm glad I'm not alone on here in liking RR's! I don't much like receiving cards with just a poem or a religious reading in them, it seems lazy to me, as in 'I can't be bothered to write a letter so here's something I nicked off the interwebs.'

I have just opened up the computer and found one- lovely.
I open the post with a cup of coffee and sit down to really enjoy catching up. The one that I have just had was my best friend when I was 7 yrs old. I have seen her a couple of times since. We would have lost touch years ago had she just signed their names. I can't see any point in just sending a card to people you don't see- they get crossed off my list. I am now up to date with the happenings over the year- some good and some bad. This means that if I were in her area I could phone and visit- not something I would do to a mere name on a card.

Conni7 I wouldn't mind that kind of RR. Unfortunately the sender doesn't edit the basic letter to suit the recipient.

I think Leticia is spot on. The RRs aren't the problem, it's the friends. Reading this thread again from the start has made me more comfortable about dropping more 'friends' from my Christmas card list this year. Thank you.

It is like FaceBook- I am continually reading complaints, as if it is FaceBook rather than the 'friends' that you have on FaceBook.
It isn't the RR - it is the so called 'friends' who send them and the answer is (in both cases) drop the 'friends'.
If they were to hand write a personal letter you still wouldn't like it because it would contain the same news. If you like them, and really wish to stay in touch, you recognise that they simply don't have the time for writing the same thing over and over again and forgive them for printing it out.
Sitting down to read a long, newsy letter is far nicer than a few scrawled lines in the card- and names in a card is very unsatisfactory. My son worked that out in the infant class- he said he couldn't see the point in writing 'to Ben- from James' to get back one saying 'to James from Ben' - a very valid point. Needless to say he doesn't send cards now.
I only send cards now as a way to keep in touch with old friends and it isn't keeping in touch if all I put is 'love from Leticia' for 10 years,or more, without seeing them. I struggle to get the cards done (still haven't finished) and would have to start in October if I were to hand write letters! If they don't want my letters then I would prefer that they dropped me altogether. I like to think that we have shared the ups and downs of life over the last decades- over 50 years in some cases.

Someone said they hadn't time to read letters! How sad is that? Even when working full time I had the time to sit down and read a letter!

Like everyone else, I like to think that my own letters are interesting and amusing. In reality they probably hit the bin faster than a mouldy mince pie.

I enjoy my sister-in-law's round robin each year. It's not too long and she lightly mentions some activities and achievements of her family in a positive and pleasantly humorous way.

I'd rather have it than a personality-free xmas card with nothing but signatures that says nothing to me except "we are still alive".

The thing about a letter, even a round robin one, is that it gives you more choice: read it and learn some news or don't read it. A card sends a greeting. So does a letter only more so.

I think the grin and bear it approach is in keeping with the spirit of xmas.