To hate smug round robins at this time of year

[lastqueenofscotland]

Seriously, do people really think I give a shit if their insufferable teenager passed their GSCEs, their vile adult children haven't been fired from their jobs or their toddlers have successfully mastered the art of occasionally shitting in a potty.

Why do people send these? Does anyone care? Surely they are only the object of ridicule?

We always get 4 every year:

One from a family who we really like and their Round Robin is very interesting and quite humble.

One from a friend of DH who is insufferable, and not only that, he smugly preaches about the meaning of Xmas, with a well chosen biblical quote thrown in (hypocrite). It makes me say 'Knob' repeatedly.

Another from distant relatives which is interesting and self deprecating. They are always genuinely amusing and we enjoy receiving them.

Final one from DH's ex gf, who is nuts. It goes straight in the bin without being read.

Actually, now that I think of it, we have started to get a fifth - electronically. I'm not sure what to think.

I think the concept is ok if you can manage to get the tone right.

I have started doing a family round up - only for our immediate family, doing a reflection on the year that has just passed. It is not for sharing, but purely for memories sake.

I do love them. Don't mind the boasting at all and think it's a shame they are dying out. They've existed forever, Mum use to handwrite them to 100s of people back in the 80s. Think she's stopped now my DSis took the piss out of them so much.

We did however receive #bestroundrobinever. My Dad use to get one from a woman he'd stayed with on a cultural exchange to Canada in the 60s. She and her family came to visit us in the 80s. When her son became an adult he started sending them to us as well (keeping up with the tenuous links?). The best one ever was when he described his proposal to his girlfriend and how he had a cassette player hidden so he could play their song when he proposed. The last page of his letter was the lyrics to their song. Comicfuckingenius.

Pumpkintopf glad to be of service! Seriously never heard of "round robin" until today!

These only ever seem to come from the people you don't like enough to make any effort to see the whole year so they must write to you and tell you what a wonderful year they've had and how you've obviously missed out on hearing it first hand from their bragging mouths.

Used to read one that got sent to my parents each year from a neighbour who had moved away.
Lots of our house this, our exotic travels that, our super intelligent and gorgeous children this, my super powerful high flying career etc etc etc

It's cringeworthy and no idea how they don't wake up the next morning having written them and shudder at the thought

Nowadays everything is on Facebook anyway and the bragging is in your face daily, but as everyone does it, it doesn't seem as 'me me me'.

I might have had a wonderful year, but if I've not made the effort to see someone in that year for them to know about it, why would I send them a letter to let them know?

What if they've had a really shitty year and a run or bad luck? It can't be nice for them.

Are the parents of toddlers or teenagers the generation that send these? We have the bragfest that is Facebook. My mum's friends don't even send these anymore

I love RRs, but I'm fairly old and they were quite commonplace amongst my parents' generation - especially those of us who lived in different corners of the globe.

I don't send RRs, I might add, our lives aren't interesting enough, but I love receiving them. My favourites are from an old college friend who I haven't seen for nearly 40 years - her DH's job has had them living all round the world - and a friend who moved to the other end of the country years ago and who writes the most bonkers RRs - I'm both entertained and perplexed by hers

I've loved catching up with this thread I'm going to get my mum to write one about me and my redundancy and my sisters tinder dates

We get a round robin each year from my toxic mother in law. I wouldn’t mind if she had done anything exciting or achieved anything great each year, but she never does, she spends every year penny pinching, moaning about how bad her day to day life is, and expecting gratitude for hours on end every time she presents me with a bag of lemon sherbets when she visits

“Here’s some sweets”
“Oh that’s very kind, thank you!”
“Do you like them?”
“Yes I love lemon sherbets”
“These are specially made in bronty”
“Thank you”
“I bet you don’t get sweets like that down here, they are very special”
“...”
“Oh son she doesn’t like them”
“I do like them, thank you”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes”
“They were a real bargain, I know how pricey sweets are down here”
“They look lovely, thank you”
“Are you SURE you like them?”
“Yes”
“They are specially made in bronty”

Repeat x 100 for 4+ hours.

Then her round robin will mention many repeat trips to the sweet shop in bronty

FruitCider That's quite batshit.

Beryl I call her the witch in law and the name suits her well

I think they're a bit sad, but I do love reading them. But then I'm I'm nosy.

I've loved catching up with this thread I'm going to get my mum to write one about me and my redundancy and my sisters tinder dates

I have actually written a few which read a bit like soap plots/disaster movies, and even my more positive ones are where we still have the same jobs/cars/homes. Mine are very humble robins.

Georgia got grade 8 piano this year, beating Williams record by 6 months at 13yrs and 2 months. Lily managed to gain grade 5 in flute and her efforts are much appreciated by the local care home where she plays on a Saturday afternoon.

This one is priceless.
However, I cringe most for those poor, possibly immobile, residents of the care home who have the peace and calm of their Saturday afternoon shattered every effing week by Lily and her infernal flute. Couldn't somebody have a word?

My Dad did one for years after he and my Mum split up. My sister and I still cringe about it. Hideous.

Oh god, the flashbacks this thread has given me!

We had some family friends when I was growing up, and my mum and the mum in this family had a really weird passive-aggressive one-upmanship kind of thing going on for years. Thankfully my mum never did the whole round robin thing (or... did she?! maybe I should ask her) but every year my mum would receive this woman’s Christmas card, compete with RR ‘newsletter’, and would proceed to read it out loud to us all while we howled with laughter.

It was exactly like the ones described here. It always started ‘well, what a year it’s been for the Smiths!’ and then went into painstaking detail about exam results and musical instruments and their summer holiday. Even as a child I could never fathom why anyone did these things. Surely if anyone actually cared then they would know all this stuff already?

I quite like idea of doing a lighthearted spoofy one, but then I worry that all these people still doing them think they’re being terribly lighthearted and tongue in cheek too!

My mum used to get them a fair bit. There was one family friend in particular who always sent one. I adored him and he passed away recently. I hope she's kept his letters.

@BeautifulLiar I seriously laughed out loud at that

Ah, I miss them. The annual 'take the piss out of the round robin letter' was one of my fondest memories of Christmas as a child.

😂

My mother just rang me re the round robin she gets every year from our old neighbours.
This year they mention - their daughter in law's fibroids.

I remember some years back, the husband mentioned that he now had known his wife for longer than he hadn't known her for. He's always full of personal statistics.

A friend did this for the first time this year, all about her campervan travels with her old dog that she thought she was going to die. I haven't seen her for over 20 years, so Christmas cards are the usual annual contact, although we're Facebook friends. There was a whole page of typed A4, so odd!

Christmas cards are literally 'love Maelstrop and DH', anything else is pointless.

This year, I’m sending this.