To utterly hate those self appreciating, smug Christmas Round robbins

[pigletmania]

You know the ones that begin with "As another year draws to an end, I find myself sitting trying to find a few mins, to tell you how many wonderful holidays I have been on, and what gifted little children Jonny and Jane are blah blah blah, bahhhh humbug

One I had this year was so er...mundane that I had to read it again to confirm it wasn't a joke.
'....Sue only had one small infection this year which quickly responded to antibiotics' .

Sorry, if you're reading this Sue but it did make me titter

YANBU. They're usually self-centred and smug.

They're so impersonal and take no account of each recipient's life or situation. For example, the chances are that if you boast about your promotion/pay rise/expensive purchases in your Round Robin, someone you send it to will have just been made redundant.

Very insensitive and lazy just to send a blanket letter to everyone - even one handwritten line is nicer!

If they are self centred and smug blame the 'so called' friends-not the round robin.

I love them and I do not expect people to write out individual letters.

On the whole, I find them absolutely ghastly. Except, perhaps for the missive headed "XXXXX Newsletter" which arrives from Australia every year. It is, in fairness a wondrously long boast but provides much amusement if read aloud in an Australian accent. So we tolerate the thing purely for its comedy value. Which reminds me, I still haven't read 2011's stream of materialistic consciousness yet. G'day for now. Back soon...

YANBU. I got an absolute cracker this year. Was going to post it on here but feared being outed and found mocking it.

Go on roman, you know you want to....

YANBU! I get a few of these each year and they always make me feel terribly inadequate for not having spent my year cycling in the foothills of the Himalayas, or cruising the rivers of China, or digging a well in Africa, or running a scuba diving school in the caribbean, or going over Niagara falls in a barrel etc etc.

I got one from a childhood friend and have been putting off reading it. It's not the smugness that gets to me, so much as the non-personal nature of the missive. If she doesn't want to write me a proper letter that's aimed at me and my personality and asks me about my stuff then it's just going to be the same bland old crap as last year, so I can't be bothered. I never send round robins cos I don't like receiving them. I tend to write letters to the people that I rarely see if it means a lot for me to stay in touch with them, otherwise a Christmas card will have to do.

YABU
They are part of the joy of Christmas.
Even if I do find pictures of pets very boring.
DD1 even gets a mention in one I got this year (for being helpful). It's going to make very little sense to anyone who wasn't at her wedding.
I did do one year when we had an exotic holiday, a broken arm, and various singing events to mention. It was only one side and I had a couple of good photos.
Else I sometimes stick a picture of the DDs in for distant aunts and cousins, who sometimes do the same.
Hand written notes are just as boasty.
X passed the 11+, I'm really glad he did because his lovely mum has had a hard time. It's just dd2 refused to do it and I won't know for 7 years if I should have forced her

My parents get two round robins every year, I love to read both.

One is about holidays and how well the children are doing.

The other is about how the U-bend got blocked and the Mrs got a BOGOF when she went to the supermarket (he was busy with the U-bend, but even though she had to drive herself home, she could not resist the offer on kitchen roll, you get my drift).

I felt weird this year just putting 'Happy Christmas' in my cards when so much has happened, but no way I could do a 'round robin' style note.

One year, my family played a Christmas parlour game version of 'consequences' merged with 'write a Christmas Round Robin', we were so fed up of them after one listing the children as 'x is a tall and willowy girl, with a poise and grace well beyond her years', whilst J was 'a sturdy little chap' and Z was 'the cuddly toy on this conveyor belt of children'.

I've now read this year's report from Our Australian Correspondent and can report that it is a cracker. Amongst the almost endless list of places visited on their holidays, considerable attention is given to the achievements of their three daughters (all now in their 20s). Or rather the achievements of two of them since the daughters 1 and 2 are the cleverest, prettiest and most successful girls in the entire Southern Hemisphere. Daughter 3 (who I very much like the sound of) is an ill-concealed disappointment.

So this year we learn that daughter 1 "returned to XXX Uni to finish her degree this year. With only one subject to complete in the second semester the Grand Posho Hotel in the city begged her to come and work for them. She graciously accepted their offer".

Of daughter 2 "Her end of year performance was brilliant and she never ceases to amaze us at her maturity and characterisation of the roles she plays."

But of daughter 3, we learn: She works in a bakery and has finally found a nice group of friends who are very good at giving her moral support and transporting her around"

The social highlight of the year appears to be a trip to the opera. Not surprisingly "The 3 of us (DD1, DD2 and cousin) had dinner in the city before the show. Unfortunately DD3 couldn?t make it because she had to work a shift at the bakery".

I'm just longing for the day that their dd3 sends her own Christmas newsletter out and I seriously hope it reads like a Kevin Bloody Wilson song...

ScarletFestiveFingernail - my parents receive one every year from the same person without fail full of exciting news such as "this year we've had the dining room decorated" along with a photograph of the dining room.

thank you for that, gave me a good laugh. I hope I receive one of those this year.

I always get one from an ex-boyf written by his English wife who goes on and on about how inferior NZ is (we are in NZ) and how "yes, we have 4 houses now". Never fails to amaze me that she would think anyone would be pleased to read it.

I got one today and I felt a wave of nausea as I read it.

Fabulously wealthy family gushing over their children's accomplishemtns: yeah how did they manage to get where they are... you paid for the most expensive education and tutored them to the eyeballs I would be surprised if they weren't successful.

She began by saying what a precious commodity time is at this time of year but darn it, she made the time to write a letter. She hasn't worked since her first child was born over 20 years ago, and none of her children are under 18 and 2 of them are away at uni. Am I missing something? What does she not have time for? Do the children still need wet nursing and their nappies changed?

What I do know, for certain, is that my grown-up dcs would be livid if I circulated all the intimate details of their lives to everyone on my Christmas card list. They'd not have been thrilled if I had done so while they were younger either so I'm amazed at the tolerance of other people's dcs in this respect.

LOL Pandemoniaa last year and every year before that, the same family I am talking about sent out a photo christmas card with her DC's on a beach with next to nothing on. The girls had scanty bikinis on and the boy was wearing a pair of shorts and taht was it. I opened it and thought "fucking hell". They were 17, 19 and 21 at the time. It was totally inappropraite and I would bloody kill my mother if she sent out photos of me half naked on the front of a card to everyone she knew.

Would any 21 year old send photos of themselves in a bikini to everyone they know at christmas. She seems to think her DC's are still 2, 4 and 6. Thankfully in the photo card this year, they were fully clothed.

I think they're lovely.

I like hearing about what people are doing, I enjoy reading about people's achievements and I have no problem at all reading about parents pride in their children. It's the "of course" and "obviously" type rhetoric that are the problem.

"Of course, Tilly passed her grade 8 violin with a distinction and obviously, Sebastian has the lead in the school play again this year" are very different to "Tilly passed her grade 8 violin with distinction and Sebastian has the lead in the school play again this year. We're very proud of them and relieved that, so far, we seem to be doing something right!"

Is a little more self aware whilst passing on the same information. There has to be a bit of a nod to the fact you're boasting!!

I wouldn't like it if there was an undertone of "I'm better than you" but I don't know anyone like that!

We have one of these threads every year.

I agree - they are generally vile. In principle they would be ok, except that it is always written by smug boasters whose children play nine instruments and have been picked to represent GB in Olympic show-jumping.

My friend's dad does a spoof one- he basically invented a family about 15 years ago, and updates it every year. I love it.

I actually dont mind the normal ones as most of my friends at least have the grace to be a little self-deprecating and list their children's acts of petty delinquency alongside their triumphs.

We receive three every year - one is the smug boasting type of the family whose father is a judge and the 3 DC who have names like Cordelia and all seem to be extraordinarily bright and gifted - slightly self deprecating, but only slightly!; the second is the 'doom and gloom' type, which is hilarious - in fact, the only recent item which was posted as 'good news' was that a near relation had died and left a useful financial legacy - i kid you not!; the last is a genuine update of family life but is so boring that it has become a joke among mutual recipients - yes, the sort where the dog has his own column and reports on his activities during the last year (which were probably the most interesting, in fact!).
But would I be without them? No, absolutely not - they are a definite Christmas feature to be relished and enjoyed, along with the mince pies etc.

My DM receives one every year from her niece. Boring, Boring, Boring. One son lives in Hong Kong doing marvellously well, another son is in Spain but has to be in Australia for the Sydney to Hobart yacht race as he is captain of a yacht, Third son pilots a giant cruiser around the world. All their children are fabously intelligent.

They themselves have been around the world twice this year.

My dear Mum is the youngest of 9 children and is the only one still living. Wouldn't you think that they would at least ask after her health?

YABU - they're hilarious! I especially love the ones written in the third person, as if sent from some divine being, channeling them.

Deidre has split the split atom and negotiated peace in the Middle East. Maurice has has discovered a cure for prostate cancer and performed to a sell-out Wembley. They are both looking forward to a rewarding Christmas in Tanzania, restoring sight to blind goats.

This thread has had me in stitches so please keep the anecdotes going. I don't receive any 'round robins' which I'm now decidedly disappointed about. Maybe I should start my own in the hope some of my friends follow suit.

My in laws got one last year from a friend who wrote 4 pages about his new Granddaughter. With another 4 pages of various photo's of DGD sitting, eating, walking, sleeping. She was a-bloody-mazing able to do all these things at 18 months. What a fecking joke. My in laws have 13 grandchildren so have seen this all before. This child apparently was the first child ever in the whole world to do all these things. I thought it was a joke but he was very serious.