Page 5 | Is anyone else still sending Round Robin Christmas letters

Iwasneveragoddess · 2019-12-20T21:18:47+00:00

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

yolofish · 23/12/2019 14:54

We get one every year which is exactly as you all describe. A particular highlight of this year's was they visited a town in Algeria while on a cruise. You will all enjoy their description: "The old town was very down at heel so we didnt stay long."

OTH I do send one, mostly to older relatives/friends and am told they all enjoy it. It is very self-deprecating though.

WTF0ver · 23/12/2019 14:59

I got one years back from an American friend. Before I even knew what a round robin was. My friend is lovely and it was funny in bits but omg it was such a cringey bragfest about her kids and husband (who later turned out to be an abusive misogynistic twat). It just goes to show that things aren't always as they seem.

Ijustwanttoretire · 23/12/2019 15:06

Used to get one from DH friend every year, brag brag brag about how wonderful the kids were and how well they were doing, usual thing. It stopped the year the youngest DS failed all his GCSEs. We never found out why he failed, but never received one since...

user1497207191 · 23/12/2019 15:08

Funny how "those" smug people stop sending round robins when they've had a crap year isn't it? They can't help but run your nose in it when everything is hunky dory for them, but soon stop when they'd have to tell you their OH has had an affair, children have failed their exams, etc etc.

Banana770 · 23/12/2019 15:11

I don’t like them! One of my friends did one this year, and she’s so lovely, but I cringed on her behalf as I know most people will take the piss out of it. My stepmother (hideous woman) used to do them and I hated it and found it mortifying to be included in it! It usually involved us all taking a photograph in matching outfits beforehand! She is American and I think it’s a bit of a thing over there or used to be.

Toddlerteaplease · 23/12/2019 15:13

A friend of mine still sends one. It's one of the highlights of Christmas. It's hilarious as it's so self congratulatory. I'm disappointed that this years hasn't arrived yet!

Khione · 23/12/2019 15:45

We do a short email one round the family. I have 4 brothers and a sister and though we all get on ok, we are spread around the world and don't keep in touch all that much. I see my sister about once a month or two but I haven't seen the others at all this year. (Except a brief overnight visit from my brother living in Oz, who did a whistle stop tour of the family whilst on holiday).

No real bragging (apart from one brother) just a quick update on what the family and kids are up to.

yolofish · 23/12/2019 16:22

I dont know, we've had a crap 18 months actually, and I did refer to what was going on but not, I hope in a morbid way. It's usually a pretty factual update with what I hope is something funny thrown in (although the last 18 months has not really been much to laugh at).

ExpletiveFairylighted · 24/12/2019 07:10

I quite like them, although I don't do then, my extended family is scattered far and wide and most of us don't use FB etc very much so any sort of letter at Christmas is welcome. The Janet and Roy thing OTOH is one of the cringiest things I've ever read on MN.

EmmapausalBitch · 24/12/2019 07:38

My Mum does one. I don't get sent them now, because years ago I suggested that 9 pages (yes, 9!) was perhaps a bit long. Apparently that was very rude of me and as a punishment, I'm no longer allowed to look at them

MarinaMarinara · 24/12/2019 08:08

DM has a friend who she’s know since they were kids who sends mad, really brutally honest ones. (She generally has no filter when you speak to her and writes like she speaks!) Those are brilliant!

One year it included the news that she was getting divorced because she had been having an affair “for about 2 months, which was a really very stupid idea, especially as I am really bad at keeping secrets, but it was a lot of fun at the time” another year her teenage son had got his girlfriend pregnant “obviously it wasn’t planned, but then [son’s name] was an accident - these things happen and it will be great to be a granny!” Her other son got excluded from school “which was fair enough really, he was being a bit of a shit” and her daughter came out which was “least surprising news ever! So pleased we don’t have to pretend that we believe [daughter’s girlfriend’s name] is just [daughter’s name’s] friend/flat mate any more, it’s been obvious that they’re a couple for ages! They make a lovely couple too” and then another year “I’ve lost a stone this year but, given that last year I put on two I’m still kind of fat”.

She is type of woman who would tell you if she got fired, or if she didn’t like her children’s partners, or about anything really! I do like those letters, but they completely aren’t smug!

stellabelle · 24/12/2019 08:19

I do them for old Uni friends who are long distance and rarely seen. The letters are short and personal, not the " round robin" type.

drspouse · 24/12/2019 08:24

My DS has SEN and we sent a warts and all one last year. This year's highlights will include ADHD diagnosis, being asked to leave one school, multiple exclusions from a second school, and taking the LEA to court. I may keep it briefer this year though.

The boasty ones we just find hilarious though we only get about 3 of them now.

partofyoupoursoutofme · 24/12/2019 08:38

My mum sends one every year, she started because she hated the Christmas card chore with such a lot to send, so she feels better putting the effort into a photo collage and newsletter for fewer people.
However, it's basically a yearly update of their four dogs, written in the classic 3rd person style. Photos of the dogs, anecdotes of the dogs, a scant paragraph of children and grandchildren (new one born this year isn't actually mentioned ). This year's BIG NEWS was the new cleaner. The lack of self awareness is quite something

SerenDippitty · 24/12/2019 09:10

We do get one from a friend which is usually three sides of small type. She is single and child free so it’s literally about her. It has become a bit of a tradition to mock it...

Whereas I get some from married friends which are literally all about their children and nothing about what they’ve been doing themselves.

YoursTunbridgeWells · 24/12/2019 09:34

I'm with DoIhavetobejolly if I write something it's self-depreciating and a personal note.
This year we've had some absoultely sh*tty times that are persisting and everything is falling apart. In some respects it would be interestigng to see how people would react to the truth. You wonder who really cares and who's longing to stick the knife in.

My mum received many when I was living at home. A lot of them come across as boastful / very un-self aware. However, there were some that gave us the giggles. Like our cousins - the eldest two were always suceeding academically, sport-wise and musically, and then there was the younger brother. The lovely but somewhat wayward boy who was nothing like his siblings. We used to love reading between the lines and tried to translate "decided that boarding wasn't for him and started at XYZ school" was code for "asked to leave the boarding school " etc.

In retrospect, it's not actually funny. Now I have my own challenging child I understand that my aunt must have spent hours trying to come up with something suitable. However, I wouldn't have written that sort of letter in the first place

Wheredidigowrongggggg · 24/12/2019 09:37

We get a couple and it’s the highlight of my year. So much to mock. The people who send it aren’t the big I am, just totally socially inept. They are oblivious to the enormous social faux pas and everyone laughing at them.

Toddlerteaplease · 25/12/2019 09:28

My friends one arrived yesterday. I was getting worried it wouldn't arrive on time. Two full sides of A4 in tiny writing. He's a celibate priest. So it's all me me me!

AbsintheFriends · 25/12/2019 09:42

We used to get 2 but clearly one of the senders has woken up to the wankery.

The remaining one is so staggeringly oblivious it would be funny, if the self-aggrandising smugness wasn't so obnoxious. They are very old friends, but over the years the friendship has died a little more with every double-sided A4 missive, complete with posed photos of their kids (often in matching outfits) and run down of exam grades and sporting achievements. Even the font they use is annoying.

I would tactfully try and say something, but it would fall on deaf ears. They clearly haven't been interested in any of their friends since about 2002.

ginyogarepeat · 25/12/2019 09:58

We get one by email from PILs every Christmas (they live in another country). It's sent to about 20 family members and mostly outlines in excruciating detail their exotic travels in the last year

ginyogarepeat · 25/12/2019 09:59

Oh and sometimes we get a personalised calendar with photos from said travels, posted to us before Christmas, to boot!

FloraGreysteel · 25/12/2019 10:06

I hate them but they are funny if they are pompous. I remember one my mother got from her best friend who was a terrible snob. She was talking about her children and said that her public school-educated daughter was living and working in the Netherlands. She was actually dealing drugs and living in a squat in Amsterdam, and almost everyone- including the mother - was well aware of it.

Baileystruffle · 25/12/2019 10:21

Haha we got one from someone we've never met. It had 3 colour photos of them and their children, loads of info about their family and an address... with an invite to pop in and see them if we're ever in the area. Very funny. The envelope was addressed to noone who's lived here for at least 9 years.