To think this is strange from my neighbour?

[Pekitothebunny]

This morning I woke up to a pack of Christmas cards that have been posted through my door. They are new Christmas cards, still sealed within their pack, unused. A note came with it saying “hi, it’s Janet from number 5. I bought these for you to send out to the neighbours next year”

Huh? Why would anyone do that? She’s isn’t my direct neighbour, she’s like 4 houses down. We don’t speak or have any kind of relationship. However, since we moved in a few years ago she has always sent us a Christmas card, and I assume she sends them to everyone on the street. We don’t bother with Christmas cards and never send them out. Could it be that she’s offended that we never send cards so this is her not so subtle way of hinting that she will be expecting a card from us in 2025?? Why would anyone care so much?

Im planning on just throwing the cards away and ignoring it. Would anyone else find this weird?

Return them, don't donate, it will cause more issues down the line.

I know people automatically jump to passive aggressive and batshit but it could also be possible that the neighbour has a mental illness and is innocently doing this

@Pekitothebunny

I think you should post them back with a note that says : thank you, but we are trying to think of small ways we can reduce our carbon footprint - and we prefer to donate our Xmas card money to charity instead.

Oh FFS! To send a Christmas card is a choice. Nice if you like doing it, nice for people who like and want to receive them. But if you choose to do it, you have to accept that many people choose not to and aren’t bothered one way or the other.

It’s entirely against the spirit of the whole bloody thing if you only ever give in the expectation of receiving - let alone doggedly sending year in, year out, to people you barely know and who clearly don’t ‘do’ cards, and then this ultimate pass agg CF move of actually giving them cards so they can send one back to you in a year’s time … in what world is that a normal or acceptable thing to do?! It’s utterly bonkers.

Agree you should post them back through her door, OP. “Thanks but we don’t send Christmas cards, as we thought you might have noticed by now. Happy new year!”

And so are the childish responses on here telling her what to do in reply.

Don't throw the cards away, that would be very wasteful. If you don't want them, hang on to them for a few months and then donate to a charity shop who can sell them. I might do that with my left over cards, I have so many and less people to send to now I'm getting on in age, however I do like cards very much, they are so pretty and it's nice to think of someone and have them think of you, especially if you live far away. I have loads from neighbours, many of whom I don't know.

I imagine the lady who donated them to you had them left over and just thought she'd distribute. Don't read any more into it than that.

Don’t be so silly. It’s a Christmas card between people who happen to live in near proximity. It’s not that deep.

Fucking hell, who pissed on your chips? I'd suggest removing the stick from your arse and lightening up

Well that definitely is strange then 😂How funny would it be if she HAD actually done the same to everyone else on the street! I would just ignore it to be honest. If you don't want to send cards you shouldn't feel pressured to. Lots of people don't these days.

Or you could post them back through her door, her note copied except for signed off by you.
She would be like, that's strange! And when she tells people, they'd be like aye! Ypu did what? 😅

It's the truth. Very childish silly responses unless they're just saying it on here to try and be funny and wouldn't actually follow through.

I'd keep them and give her and only her one every year.

😂😂😂

I'm kinda proud of her brass neck but on the face of it of course yanbu!

Well Janet is a megalomaniac and you either do it her way or it’s the highway.

I’d put them in a drawer and forget it - chalk her up to being slightly batshit.

She's saying that you don't send her a Christmas card when she sends you one. Personally I'd post them back through her door with a note saying that you buy your own cards so these will just be wasted.

Surely noone could be that passive agressive?
I think it's a (misguided) attempt to create some sort of street community. She has visions of working up to an old school style street Christmas party.
Think of it like the chain letters of yore. I found them hideously irritating, but obviously some people thought they were fun.

😅😅😅😅 Oh Janet!

The best idea is the one with them returned/written for the next few years.

I actually think it is quite sad. I did jump to crazy initially, but what is behind it? I feel op needs to handle it politely, and carefully, as to not prompt anything else, or cause any unnecessary upset. I don't know if the lady is elderly, or lives alone, or just a bit disturbed. What ever it is, it isn't the norm, and it is right to be weary.

There is a lot of passive aggressive nasty posts on this thread. It is easy to jump to them at first, but this woman sounds tormented over some Christmas cards; this isn't a nice way to live.

I would post them back in her letterbox.

A virtual stranger telling me how to live my life? Fuck off!

I love her chutzpah

I’ve put YaBU for throwing them out. Donate them or something rather than wasting them. But I sure as shit wouldn’t send her a card. I might send all the surrounding neighbours one though

Post them back to her with a note saying that you're sending her all her Christmas cards in advance to cover the next 10 years (or however many cards were in the pack).

Hahaha - what a passive aggressive person! For all she knows you don’t celebrate Christmas.
just post them back through with a note. I’ve stopped sending neighbours Christmas cards - it was getting ridiculous as we don’t speak to some of them all year then there would be all these cards! There’s much better ways to be a good neighbour than sending strangers cards!

How bizarre! I think you should send a note saying 'we don't send Xmas cards to anyone, not even close family, so I'm returning the cards. They're nice, but no thank you.'
She tried to embarrass you so I reckon you should make the position clear.
I can just imagine her dropping of boxes of cards to Muslim and Jewish families. What a busy body!

I wouldn't ignore this. She clearly has a bee in her bonnet and people like this can cause a lot of trouble. You need to address it head on. I like the idea of popping round and speaking with her face to face, returning the cards and saying you don't send Xmas cards. There's then literally nothing she can get upset about.

I'd save them till next Christmas and send them one each to her back dated for all the years missed just to fu@k with her