Has this been asked before?

[ItllBeLonelymumThisChristmas]

What do you think of family newsletters included with Christmas cards. Are they naff or not?

There was a fe threads on these 'round robin' things last year. General concensus was naff IIRC

i do one to go out with the thankyou letters

Yes, but share best (funniest) bits with us?!

this has been done before and it is, IIRC, deemed to be a lttle bit naff if they are all the same. Personalised one's are Ok, maybe a paragraph of handwriting along with a printed circular.

naff!!!! in my humble opinion if you aren't close enough to people in that they already know what is going on in your lives dont bother to send cards!! Is that really harsh?!!

I wasn't here last year so I'll add my bit and say I think they are horrid!! But I do admit to reading them all and kind of enjoying them but would rather die than write one!

Especially hate poems written by little kids etc!

My friend went through a messy divorce because of her infidelity with a Roman Catholic priest!! In her parents' annual newsletter no mention was made of the new man (who left the priesthood) for YEARS until they got married and his name suddenly appeared. Always made me laugh.

They are all just one long boast usually. Be different if they were more honest.

One from some distant cousin made me exhausted just reading it - their 4 kids must have had no time at all to relax!

I could write one saying how my dd loves watching TV more than anything else and has packed in all her activities - just to be different!!

I love reading all the newsletters my mum gets, I wouldn't send one myself but then I don't know enough people to make it worthwhile.

Blimey, some strong feelings here. Don't any of you want to tell people how you're doing (not in a boastful way, obviously ) but can't face writing it out loads of times?

I hope none of you are friends of mine .

well, I get a few eacg year from friends abroad. Quite enjoy them! Bit more meaningfulthen just a card.

FFS!

They do make hilarious reading. Extremely naff though unless self-deprecating and well-written.

Perhaps i should just start an internet diary instead and get my friends and family to log on for regular updates all about me.

I've just done one to put in mine. Yes, they're a bit naff I suppose but I like it when I get them! I'm just a nosey cow you see!

I don't really care what anyone thinks - I bet everyone will like reading it. I'll put them in cards for uni friends who I talk to occasionally but we always send cards with photos and updates and also dh's cousins etc who are always interested but we don't see them often as they live far away.

OMG - Fake tree and Xmas newsletters - what is happening to me?!? I'm usually so refined

Batters - OMG!!!! Now mine is in no way boastful I can assure you!!

Oh God yes Batters!!!
Just feel like screaming F* OFF!
I throw some of then straight in the bin without even opening them.
Mind you better than a Christmas card, when they can't even be bothered to write your name, but just sign it 'Love Sally' or something. You know they've sat there mechanically signing cards and shoving them into pre addressed envelopes.
I never send Christmas cards-give the money to charity instead.
Round Robins are ok ONLY if you put in bad/disastrous/disappointing things in as well-blethering on about talented children, exotic holidays, new cars and job promotions is a big yawn!

Batter - - fantastic - that's exactly why round robins should be encouraged, they give us all a laugh.

I love them - the nicer ones are just nice and it's great to hear from friends who I'm otherwise only in touch with sporadically. And the awful ones are great because they are such a hoot.

Having said that - don't do one myself. But I do put in a piccie of dd looking cute - that probably counts as terribly boastful!

I hate it when people put 'to Kate, Steve and family' or 'Kate, Steve and boys' - why can't they be arsed to write their names out???

I like them. I always include a newsletter with my cards to far away friends & family with a handwritten section asking how they are & replying to their news/events.

OOh Batters, that's superb. You should send it to Simon Hoggart. He collects them for an annual article I think, there was an update in the Times recently.

My views have changed - I used to think they were awful, now I must confess to enjoying reading them (not that I get many from my own friends, but my parents do). Actually what annoys me more is getting a card from someone I haven't seen all year that just says 'love from X'. I mean, what IS the point? I'd much rather have a round robin than that, at least I'd have some idea what they were doing.

For myself, I haven't quite had the courage of my convictions to do my own letter (too afraid of people thinking its naff I guess!), but I try to write a few lines to people with whom my main contact is a Christmas card.

Goobledigoose - they've probably forgotten the children's names. I sometimes do that especially when I'm not 100% sure of the name

I know I slagged them off but I do like reading them and they can be done well as someone else said but it's tricky to pull off and as I'm not terribly witty I don't bother in case it's naff!

I only really send cards to people I have some contact with through the year so there's no real point in a newsletter thing.

I did e-mail my dds' school photo to a few friends but admitted in the message that it was just for shameless boasting purposes!!

nothing makes me laugh harder. my mum sticks them on the fridge with a magnet. sod the tree, when we go round to hers at xmas they're the first thing i want to see.

simon hoggart hasjust published a book of the best examples. i think it's called 'the cat who learned to open the fridge'. or something.

Didn't we write a MN Round Robin last year?

This is a very timely thread for me. I was going to write ours tonight to sen dto our friends and family back home. I've already missed the last post back to Australia, so it'll be late too . I think that if people care about what we've been doing during the year then they'll appreciate hearing about our news, and if they want to toss it in the bin that's their loss and they probably won't care to renew the friendship with us when we move back to Australia in January. It will be interesting to see how many friends we have left when we get back!