Christmas Newsletters

Maybe it it is just what they've been doing. It's their real lives. Why write about dreary times?

If that is what they have been doing then it makes sense to include it in their letter, what should they put instead?

I agree with Aveline, it sounds like a nice 12 months for those people. It is better than a moany newsletter about the husband crashing the car, the boiler blowing up, the DGS being excluded from school, the state of the economy etc. Even though those things might have happened to them too.
Live and let live!

I agree they are just talking about their lives and activities. We can't all have such exciting lives. Just be happy for them that they are enjoying what they are doing.

I have sympathy with the OP.
I only believe a % of what I used to read in such letters.
It is boasting at best and exaggerating or fibbing at worst.
Most people have some angst in their lives during a year sad to say but the letter writers seem to go year after year without any at all.

That's not necessarily true annsixty. Everyone has ups and downs but why write about the downs? I alway think people who perceive others as lying or boasting might have a bit of a chip on their shoulders...

Aveline

That's not necessarily true annsixty. Everyone has ups and downs but why write about the downs? I alway think people who perceive others as lying or boasting might have a bit of a chip on their shoulders...

Or are jealous?

We had ‘round robin’ once, all about where they had been, who they had met, how much they had spent etc etc etc. At the end the information that they had bought a holiday home in Cornwall. Plus a price list. DH tore it up.

I’m fortunate to receive newsy but not boasty updates. One can mention a nice holiday or whatever without waxing lyrical - always remember the circumstances of the ‘audience’.

I must admit Hyacinth Bouquet immediately springs to mind 😄

Seriously - some people really do have more exciting lives than others, and happily tell anyone who will listen all about it. They are doing what they like doing and maybe they assume everyone else is too. It wouldn't annoy me unless they are people who have no interest in anyone else or put other people down.

Before we had the children we used to be the 'exciting' couple in our families. Nice cars, good holiday, nice clothes. We never talked about our holidays, or the theatre or anything else we did because no one in our families was interested in anything they weren't doing themselves.

We used to have one each year from a lovely couple but their round robin was all about how wonderful, successful and popular their children were. 😤

I get one nice update letter with a photo. I get lots of snippets inside the card that do me fine and I reciprocate.
I stopped answering the two-page epistles and just wrote my snippet. They then stopped sending them.
DH always says if you've got to boast it's not true. I don't even think most are boasting, people are just trying to make their uneventful lives sound exciting or are not telling the whole truth just like I would never tell all the family woes in a Christmas card.
If they annoy you don't answer them back.

I used to send these when my children were small as we lived miles from family and hardly saw the "wider family" unless at funerals!

Our children each wrote a piece for it and I collated it. It was all stuff they thought people might like to know. Sometimes one would write a poem or write a story.
Once there was a page explaining the life cycle of a ladybird (!) and one year our middle daughter spent a whole page on how she was trying to stop biting her nails. There was a "before and after" drawing and a poem as well as informationabout how hard it was and how much she wanted "sparkling fingers".

In my defence I always put a note on the front saying please don't feel obliged to read this missive.

And yes, we got some truly dreadful ones!

Nothing wrong with saying you’ve had a nice holiday or two somewhere, no need to brag about the food etc. Why do some people need to send pictures of their meals? Doesn’t impress me at all.

We had one relative who boasted about his teenage granddaughter, ‘absolute stunner’ apparently. And another grandson who was a bar manager in an upmarket ‘hostelry’.

“Works in a pub then” said DH.

I’m glad I wasn’t on your Christmas card list NS!

I’d write ‘not known at this address’ and repost it next year as it irks you so much OP.

We've just received one from dear friends whom we rarely see due to logistics.
They've had a very busy year visiting places and family overseas - well good for them!

I do try to hand write a personal letter each year to friends but couldn't manage it this year, so I'll phone instead for a catch up.

We get few from people we seldom see which are a pleasure to read. We also have one from a cousin of my dh who he’s only met once and I’ve never met. It’s the most confusing missive I’ve ever read, jumping in and out of the first person, detailing the minutiae of their family life. If you notice all that’s not said it’s a very different picture to the one they portray. This is the letter that I keep in mind when I’m writing ours, short, sharp, to the point, honest enough so as not to boast and funny in places. Well I think it’s all these things, maybe I should ask for feedback!!

Well, I like receiving these letters, and rarely receive boasting ones, and I admit I do not like those. Similaarly i send one out. I do not think it is boastful. DGD did GCSE'sthis year, I merely commented that she had done well and was now studying for A levels. I think it is the other aspects of people's life that are more interesting, like DGD getting a Saturday job, and adjusting to having to go to work every Saturday, no matter what. An interesting learning curve that we all learn as we start work.

With friends scattered all over the country, as we get older travelling to visit is moe difficuclt and these letters keep us in touch.

I am happy to read news from friends far away. However, one we used to receive really irritated me. It was all about how clever and talented their children were and the idyllic village life they had.
Surely it their life couldn't be that wonderful?

Those round-robins are a good idea in principle but reading over-long tomes about the events that make up the lives of friends and acquaintances you don't see very often - and only think of occasionally- can be tedious.

I've never written one because I know I could not make it interesting enough.

I'm seldom interested in other people's holiday experiences so don't believe they'd be interested in mine. I did a six-week tour of Eastern Europe a while back - it was fascinating (and sometimes even dangerous)... but only to me and as I don't have the skill of a great author, I think the recounting of the travels would simply be a rather boring read.

My offspring are doing fairly well - but no better than most of the children and grandchildren of others, so who'd want to read a litany about their progress?

Nope... I'll stick to sending cards if necessary with the simple, "we're all well, hope to see you in the near future".

I used to get one and it really was so boring as I had no interest in what their hobbies were or what they d done to their house that I d never seen…. we weren’t even close friends
Anyway they’ve ceased now thankfully and I haven’t had any others
I don’t like them

Bella23

I get one nice update letter with a photo. I get lots of snippets inside the card that do me fine and I reciprocate.
I stopped answering the two-page epistles and just wrote my snippet. They then stopped sending them.
DH always says if you've got to boast it's not true. I don't even think most are boasting, people are just trying to make their uneventful lives sound exciting or are not telling the whole truth just like I would never tell all the family woes in a Christmas card.
If they annoy you don't answer them back.

Very true I think.👍🏻