Round robin Christmas letters.... Cringe...

[Onlyonamonday]

I've recieved, today and yesterday, the usual two ..
Printed out with smug photos and one one of them, three whole sheets of A4 paper of the amazing places they have visited ,their successful high achieving, jobs, kids,cats, dogs etc
Now don't get me wrong I do love to hear happy news from anyone and am genuinely pleased for people's happiness/ achievements, love hearing from far away family and friends... But in this information overload way? ?.I just feel myself cringing whenever we get them ..they come across a self important," we're the only people in the universe who are great) ..dH likes to read them out loud to us for fun ... .?
Does anyone actually like them ?

come on you have to share some nuggets! We all love a good smug round robin!

The thing that makes me sad about these threads is that it will put some people off sending them, depriving family members who actually enjoy hearing about their lives from that news.

It doesn't put me off, however, because I know that the people I send mine to care about me, and don't get to see me more than once a year, so they are happy to receive their (now) email.

I love a round robin

Some are smug and funny but I also genuinely like to hear updates from people I don't see so often

If the recipient is going through a hard year / life, has no money, etc etc, it's pretty insensitive.

I have friends in different countries or just counties. I might go years without seeing them. Phone rarely. Fb them etc. But we re connect via a little letter at Xmas and a photo. I don't shove it in everyone's card, just the one or two that mean something even if time or distance seperated us.

I actually find the smuggest people re round robins are those who laugh at them.

Sure, round robins can be a bit much - although I'm in the 'don't wash your dirty linen in public' school of thought.

But as others have said, they allow you to tell people you don't often/ever see what you've been up too. And that may well include family bereavements. When my mother sent out a round robin saying that my sister had been selected for the GB paralympic squad, she also had to write that my sister had died. I think she deserved a last chance to boast about her daughter.

I love hearing from our old neighbours, they moved away years ago now and had DC the same age as DS1, it's great to hear how they're all getting on.

Oh wow, jeee, that must have been really hard for you all. :(

I like them. I like imagining - or at least feeling closer to - the lives of people I care about but don't see very often. Especially those who live abroad, and therefore have very different lifestyles and habits.
I certainly don't mock the senders - that sounds a little mean.

I get its nice to hear from family far away ..I have family in Australia and a friend in America .and I can't get enough of their news...but the round robins I get every year are from people I hardly know... And they have just printed out tons of the same one to stick in all their Xmas cards.. I know cos other people I know get the same one... Not very personal

Haha I love these and find them hilarious!Never received them but my parents have done for years and I refer to them as the annual 'christmas boast' rather than round robin.I would never dream of actually sending one myself and as this year has been mainly crap (with DH leaving me amongst other things) it would be more of a 'pity me' letter!

Hmm, I'd probably feel the same if I received a long missive from someone I hardly knew - bit odd. We get three - all welcome. Personally I don't respond in same - instead will write in the card to each personally.

I do the same if I'm sharing any news at Christmas ... Just write in the card so it's personal to that person ... I also never forget to ask about their lives/ families

I think that even worse than dreadful Round Robin letters (and I don't include the loving, friendly, newsy ones - sorry for your family's loss, Jeee) are cards made by the sender. Cards with photos of the family on it as the main picture. I received two this year. Both are putrid, yet I am very, very fond of the people that had posted them!

www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20810452

I love some of them, if from dear old friends and family members, and those that are personalised to the recipient. We can all identify the smug, boasting, oblivious, completely over the top round robins, which are often unintentionally amusing. Those do make me cringe.