Is anyone else still sending Round Robin Christmas letters

[Iwasneveragoddess]

Or is it just my sister, speaking about the whole family in the third person.....?

God I hate them ....

I suppose it depends if they are interesting - I had a cousin that lived in some interesting places and used to send one each year which was good. When the family stopped moving around they stopped sending them, possibly due to a lack of content for it (although I appreciate that doesn't seem to stop everyone).

I occasionally put a note in to people, but apart from a mass change of address note once, they tend to be one-offs.

Its a bit like an old version of facebook Same as facebook, it has its place, many loved it as a way of keeping linked in, and yes, promti g their fab famy - its superficial You aint gonna get any juicy goss

• promoting their ( oh so fab) fab family

I need the gossip - the round robin isn’t doing it for me 😂😂

Those of you who don't like Round Robins, would you feel differently if you got an individual, hand-written letter from your aquaintances or would you rather not hear their news at all?

I do send out a round robin each year. Ideally I'd write individual letters or, even better, see all my friends, relatives, former colleagues, neighbours from ages ago etc, during the year and tell them my news in person. But I don't have time. We all have busy lives, jobs, commitments, and most of us move towns and change jobs more than people did in the past. So, we collect aquaintances along the way, and it's hard to see everyone in person because we end up different cities or countries. Not everyone uses Facebook or Insta and round robins can be the only way to stay in touch. I love receiving other people's, seeing photos of their children etc. I enjoy writing mine and hope that the recipients will be happy to receive them. If they don't like them, they don't have to read them!

Hand written letter.

I like them and miss them. I think it's far better than bloody faceache. Love getting them from most people, it is nice to know what my old friends have been doing when we don't meet up much any more due to living in different places and having busy lives. The trouble is the round robins you get from people you don't much care for...

Back in the round robin heyday my parents got #thebestroundrobinever from the son of a woman who my father knew from years and years before, we had met the son once when he was a teenager. As well as his fledgling political career he described his proposal to his fiance at the top of the CN Tower in great detail including how he hid a CD player and switched on 'their' song to play just as he was about to propose. The letter was 6 sides of A4 and the last page had the lyrics of their song. Absolute comedy gold.

Oh I want one!

I do not send them though.

I had a friend who used to refer to the one she always got from an acquaintance about his life and a lot of people whom she had never heard of as "the Vicar's Christmas newsletter". I have never been able to think of them as anything else ever since.

@Iwasneveragoddess this one was in the first person but we do occasionally get one from an old family friend who writes it all in the 3rd person! Today's one was two sides of A4, typed in a very small font, with so much detail!

People over 70 send them. I thought it was a myth, until I managed a team of volunteers who all moaned on about the 'dreaded Christmas email' that they recieved each year.

I've never received one but I sent a Janet and Roy one this year. I was highly amused typing it up. It was fun making stuff up about made up people.

I send then - in first person but it was only a single page with a couple of lines about each member of the family - & a picture of dgc - I always say at the beginning that I hope that they are well & have had a peaceful year - its upbeat but does mention family member brush with ill health (understatement) & how they are ok etc - I use to write brief note to each person but with my scrawl & how long it took & that I could write a longer letter this way it makes sense.

Hand written letter

I use to write hand-written letters, my friends use to tease me that my writing was so bad that if they read the letter three times they would get three different letters as they tried to work out what I'd written. And of course in reality they were no different to a round robin, the bulk of the letter was identical to everyone (and yes, I did use to personalise the typed letters I wrote as well).

I think most people don't write very much and aren't very good at it and so their Christmas letters aren't great works of literature. But so what?

The shed photo is unbeatable

My wedding, which she huffed and puffed about coming to a few years ago didn’t get a mention 😂😂

When I was a child mmum used to get one every year from one particularly smug neighbour, basically about how perfect the whole family was. She stopped the year it was revealed her husband was bonking one of the other mums at school.

and the same people who dreaded the 'christmas email' - also still recieve christmas 'ecards' - is that STILL a thing?

Aaargh my DF did this for years after he and my DM split. My DSis and I hated it so much it's now a massive piss take every year and whatever news she hears from me she'll ask if I think I've warranted a paragraph in the newsletter.

I don't know if he still does them - it's my worst nightmare. Not much you can do to be interesting when all your siblings live in far flung countries with pots of money, their own businesses, firsts from prestigious universities, fluent in multiple languages, hoards of beautiful kids that they travel around the world with....

Good job I'm actually very happy with my little space in the world

Love receiving them

Sent one this year but it's been a rather eventful year. Tend to do one alternate years. However as a family we don't really do social media with the people we send cards to

I like them, they are good way of keeping in touch with where people are at with their lives. Much better then a card saying to … from...… (But I prefer a hand written card.)

The one I got this year and get every year was mainly about friends/relatives/pets of the family's that had died

I don’t but I love getting them :)

My parents get one every year from a couple they haven't seen or spoken to since the mid 80s. I love it and always look for it when I go home - love the fact they couldn't be less self aware of how god awful it is and how entertaining for all the wrong reasons it is.

My parents get one from a distant relative that lives in Oz and it used to be a highlight of Christmas. The perfect daughter, the graphic medical details of the whole family and the pets escapades and home improvements. Dull but mesmerising. They stopped and we always joke it’s because the daughter went off the rails.