s/o Christmas Card thread

[Mynyel]

Who else doesn't like those mass produced letters telling you all about what a family has done?

 

We get one froma part of the family that (on dh side) that my dh hasn't seen since he was a teenager (so about 20 years) and I have never met them. The letters go on to tell all about the college granduations, weddings etc.. :001_huh:

 

Really? I mean you might as well be sending it to a stranger. It isn't personalized or anything it is just a generic letter and mass copied and sent out.

 

I don't like them, they are so impersonal and act as if we should know about people we don't know.

 

If it is people we know and talk to that is one thing but really? Someone you haven't seen in 20 years? And they somehow always get our address even after we have moved a couple times.

 

Am I the only one on this side?

[TN Mama]

You can do a search on these boards and pull up at least one thread on this per Christmas season. Then you'll know exactly how everyone feels. :D

[saja1029]

I only get a letter from an old elementary school friend. I don't know how I feel about it...sometimes I feel it is nothing more than a brag session....and no, there is nothing personalized about it (same one goes to however many people).

 

Ah, whatever floats your boat....

[SailorMom]

I don't mind them at all - living so far away from everyone, sometimes it's all the news we get.

Now - if they are over-the-top braggy.... those are annoying.

[angela in ohio]

But surely you don't expect them to take the time to tell each person individually how much better their life is? They're busy backpacking through Europe, winning medals of honor, and saving baby seals. :D Cut them some slack.

[kwickimom]

I wouldn't mind them, but MIL ruined them for me.

 

My DH's "mother" sends one with info about everyone in the family EXCEPT us in it. They didnt even mention the years I had my kids, yet they steal pictures of them from other family members and hang them on their wall, like they care about them or something.

 

I would however love one from my good friends or caring family.

[mommaduck]

I only get a letter from an old elementary school friend. I don't know how I feel about it...sometimes I feel it is nothing more than a brag session....and no, there is nothing personalized about it (same one goes to however many people).

 

Ah, whatever floats your boat....

:iagree:

[In the Rain]

I don't mind them at all - living so far away from everyone, sometimes it's all the news we get.

Now - if they are over-the-top braggy.... those are annoying.

 

:iagree:

[vonfirmath]

I love those letters and look forward to Christmas.

 

It is not quite so necessary this year because Facebook has allowed me to keep up -- but not everyone is on Facebook.

[AFwife Claire]

I love those letters and look forward to Christmas.

 

It is not quite so necessary this year because Facebook has allowed me to keep up -- but not everyone is on Facebook.

 

This is me too. I always think, when I read these sorts of threads, "Well, you can tell you're not military!" For one thing, I love getting mail from actual people, not just junk and bills, and secondly, most of our letters are from people we were stationed with at some time past. I love keeping up with them! Maybe we just make really nice friends, LOL, because we don't get the bragging sort of letters. I love seeing pictures of where they are living now, as well as how big their kids are getting, new babies they have, etc.. Now we just retired, so it is unlikely we'll be moving again, but in the past, we read those letters with the hope that maybe someday our paths would cross again for an assignment, and then we would at least be somewhat up to date on their lives! I love Christmas letters!

[mommaduck]

This is me too. I always think, when I read these sorts of threads, "Well, you can tell you're not military!" For one thing, I love getting mail from actual people, not just junk and bills, and secondly, most of our letters are from people we were stationed with at some time past. I love keeping up with them! Maybe we just make really nice friends, LOL, because we don't get the bragging sort of letters. I love seeing pictures of where they are living now, as well as how big their kids are getting, new babies they have, etc.. Now we just retired, so it is unlikely we'll be moving again, but in the past, we read those letters with the hope that maybe someday our paths would cross again for an assignment, and then we would at least be somewhat up to date on their lives! I love Christmas letters!

I was raised in the military and I could see the use of it there. But when the person is in the same church as you or it's relatives that use it passive aggressively in competition with others or to show favoritism, well, it gets really old.

[AFwife Claire]

Yes, I actually don't send letters to people I see around town, in church, homeschool co-op, etc. That seems weird--ummm, you've seen me living my life. You don't need to also read about it! : )

[mcconnellboys]

I do not like them at all. The only ones I've ever gotten seemed to be major brags that said, "Look at our wonderful, perfect children and all they've done this year and look at all the wonderful vacations we've gone on this year and how successful we are." They just seemed like a huge brag to me....

[Amy loves Bud]

My DH's "mother" sends one with info about everyone in the family EXCEPT us in it.

 

 

 

My neighbor's mom does this, except each year, she leaves out the child (and his or her family) that she is mad at. :001_huh:

[Amy loves Bud]

I adore them. I don't send them out because I'm just not that organized, but I love getting them and hearing about what everyone is up to. I also prefer photo cards to non-photo cards, because I like to see everyone!

[applesing]

I really look forward to the Christmas letters! I love hearing about everyone's year. What bothers me is when we just receive a signed Christmas card year after year with no pictures, note or letter. That is a lot less personal than someone who takes the time to compose a thoughtful letter to go with their cards.

 

That said, we get very few letters that I would categorize as "over the top" in their bragging. Almost all of the letters we receive are just newsy, informative and kind.

 

Lynne

[Denisemomof4]

I wouldn't mind them, but MIL ruined them for me.

 

My DH's "mother" sends one with info about everyone in the family EXCEPT us in it. They didnt even mention the years I had my kids, yet they steal pictures of them from other family members and hang them on their wall, like they care about them or something.

 

I would however love one from my good friends or caring family.

 

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

 

I'm SO sorry FOR YOU!!!!!!:grouphug:

[KrissiK]

I like them and I send them out. I think it's interesting to know what other people are doing.

[catz]

I don't mind them at all - living so far away from everyone, sometimes it's all the news we get.

Now - if they are over-the-top braggy.... those are annoying.

 

:iagree:

[grace'smom]

:eek::eek::eek::eek:

 

I'm SO sorry FOR YOU!!!!!!:grouphug:

 

I wouldn't mind them, but MIL ruined them for me.

 

My DH's "mother" sends one with info about everyone in the family EXCEPT us in it. They didnt even mention the years I had my kids, yet they steal pictures of them from other family members and hang them on their wall, like they care about them or something.

 

I would however love one from my good friends or caring family.

 

That's horrible!!! Life is too short to spend energy being mean to people!

[msjones]

I send them out and I love receiving them. Every December afternoon I get to sit down with my coffee and open letters from friends. This is one of the biggest pleasures of the Christmas season for me.

[katemary63]

I love Christmas letters. I have written one every year for 27 years. I love getting them, even from people I seldom see. I can't imagine why people don't like them, but I know that some people don't. If you don't care for the letter, just throw it away. I'll be looking anxiously in the mail for the one's I get. I'm really sad that because of facebook, fewer people are sending Christmas letters and cards now days. But please, just throw it way if you don't like it.

[katemary63]

we get very few letters that I would categorize as "over the top" in their bragging. Almost all of the letters we receive are just newsy, informative and kind.

 

Lynne

 

:iagree:

[LibraryLover]

I guess I just love getting mail that is not a bill.

 

So yeah, bring on the letters. I don't mind a little bragging at all. We all brag about our kids sometimes, in some form. What is the difference between "Hillary was accepted to Yale, Harvard and MIT!" and "Am I the only one whose children would rather read than play video games??!!!"

[silliness7]

This is me too. I always think, when I read these sorts of threads, "Well, you can tell you're not military!" For one thing, I love getting mail from actual people, not just junk and bills, and secondly, most of our letters are from people we were stationed with at some time past. I love keeping up with them! Maybe we just make really nice friends, LOL, because we don't get the bragging sort of letters. I love seeing pictures of where they are living now, as well as how big their kids are getting, new babies they have, etc.. Now we just retired, so it is unlikely we'll be moving again, but in the past, we read those letters with the hope that maybe someday our paths would cross again for an assignment, and then we would at least be somewhat up to date on their lives! I love Christmas letters!

 

:iagree: I'm not military and I just LOVE them. I hadn't sent one out from our family in many years and kept feeling so guilty about all the time and stamps people invested in keeping me connected with them. I love getting them so much I was afraid if I didn't reciprocate I would start getting cut off people's lists so I mustered one up last year for the first time in many years. I also love, love, love getting pictures with the letters but either way I love catching up with people. I had no idea people didn't like them. Maybe if I got one from someone I didn't really like or know. Hmmm...

[Catwoman]

I once got one from the family cat of some people we didn't even know that well.

 

Yes, the cat wrote it.

 

He even signed it with a little pawprint stamp at the bottom.

 

It proved to us, without question, that he was the smartest one in that entire family. :glare:

 

(And it wasn't even a funny newsletter, told from the perspective of the cat -- it was one of those annoying, braggy ones!)

 

Cat

[silliness7]

What bothers me is when we just receive a signed Christmas card year after year with no pictures, note or letter. That is a lot less personal than someone who takes the time to compose a thoughtful letter to go with their cards.

 

:iagree: Yes, exactly. I can't stand getting those. Save a stamp! News, pictures...bring it on. Generic holiday greetings...pass.

[Crissy]

I love those letters and look forward to Christmas.

 

 

:iagree:

[cin]

This is me too. I always think, when I read these sorts of threads, "Well, you can tell you're not military!" For one thing, I love getting mail from actual people, not just junk and bills, and secondly, most of our letters are from people we were stationed with at some time past. I love keeping up with them! Maybe we just make really nice friends, LOL, because we don't get the bragging sort of letters. I love seeing pictures of where they are living now, as well as how big their kids are getting, new babies they have, etc.. Now we just retired, so it is unlikely we'll be moving again, but in the past, we read those letters with the hope that maybe someday our paths would cross again for an assignment, and then we would at least be somewhat up to date on their lives! I love Christmas letters!

 

That's different. I think an update from a family that we use to know, kids played with, etc. would be great. In fact, I enjoy those. But from someone whom I barely know, and haven't seen in 20 years. that's a little weird. And boring. Dh and I often tease, How do we know these are really their kids? They could be telling us about the neighbor's kids? They could change the names of their kids and we wouldn't know. They could omit children from their letter and we'd have no clue. Nor would we care.

 

Greg gets one from a lady he worked with YEARS ago. He never knew her kids, or grandkids. Yet we get all that stuff. And in the last paragraph, she talks a little bit about herself. Which is all Greg cares about. She' still working at the same company but has been promoted/transferred to this department, and her and BoyFF are still together and traveled here and there this year.

Edited December 22, 2010 by cin

[Jennifer in MI]

I LOVE them!!!! I save them until after the holidays and spend a day reading them. I take all the pictures and put them in an album I have, arranged by family. I love looking over all the pictures and comparing them to previous years.

 

I like knowing what people are up to. I love hearing about their vacations and which colleges the kids are attending. And, yup, I like telling others what we've been up to. Our "newsletter" is mostly pictures and we put captions under each one. Our way of keeping people informed.

 

Dh and I have lived in three places together. We each have separate college friends and friends that we met after college. Of course we also have our separate families too. We keep people on our list forever! And, our list is LONG! But, we don't send them out to in-town friends.

[mom2abcd]

I love Christmas letters. I have written one every year for 27 years. I love getting them, even from people I seldom see. I can't imagine why people don't like them, but I know that some people don't. If you don't care for the letter, just throw it away. I'll be looking anxiously in the mail for the one's I get. I'm really sad that because of facebook, fewer people are sending Christmas letters and cards now days. But please, just throw it way if you don't like it.

 

I love them, too.

 

We've lived in several places and it's so much nicer to get a newsy letter than just a generic card.

 

And I know *I* don't have time to personally write everyone that we'd like to keep in touch with.

 

I don't understand either, why some people are annoyed with Christmas letters.

 

Here are some creative ones:

 

 

 

http://www.tipjunkie.com/christmas-card-contest-vote-now/

 

 

http://www.blogher.com/frame.php?url=http://web.mac.com/rochelleht1/Rochelle_Tallmadge/Blog/Entries/2007/12/16_Christmas_Cards_Through_The_Years.html

 

 

http://www.blogher.com/amazing-christmas-cards