I don't know why but I cant stand them - I never read them - I guess I figure if I really cared about what you have done the past year I would have heard about it when it happened.....
Do you read them/like them?
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I like reading them but feel like I can't write them or I'll look stuck up...
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I read them but I hate them. I could never think of enough things to say in a Christmas letter that would make my year seem all that interesting.
Well, maybe this year, but it would just be depressing.
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And read *and* write them. I don't have time to hand write a note to each person I send a Christmas card to - and for many of the people on our list, the exchange of cards is the only time we really connect over the year. And I hate when people just send a card, no note. Seems so lazy and impersonal. So I guess this is really one of those things on which everyone has differing opinions and we should all just do what feels right and gives others some slack (which I need to do, since 95% of the cards we receive are just cards stuck in an envelope).
As far as seeming stuck up, it is incredibly hard to write Christmas letters. I write for a living and this is by far the hardest thing for me to compose every year. I do a draft that I hope sounds funny and informative rather than stuck up, and my husband edits it to take out everything even remotely prideful. It's a long process, but it works for us.
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I love/hate them. I always read them, but may make fun if them depending who it is. If you just wrote good stuff in them, it comes across as braggy at best. If you write good and bad, it's like, why are you telling everyone on your list about your husband losin his job?? Lose lose.
My sister and I *might* have someone we make a point of sending Xmas cards to just so we can get their yearly newsletter, because it is always over the top. Are we going to hell?
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I like them. To me, it's better than an unsigned picture. At least the person took the time to tell me about their year and what's going on with them.
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Didn't realize people hated end of year letters... I don't love the braggy ones, but enjoy catching up on people's lives otherwise.
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I think they're fun but we don't get any. My parents friends still send them and I like reading them to catch up on kids I lost touch with that their parents still talk about.
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I like the letters. Especially from people that I don't keep in touch with unless it's the holiday and really it's just a greeting card exchange. The letters I have read are not obnoxious; mostly announcing weddings, graduations (acceptance into school), marriages, or other milestone accomplishments. I have yet to read one that says "we spent half the year touring Europe", rather "we both retired this year and have more time to focus on hobbies and traveling". Or another may say "Ben and Carol have settled in MD" and maybe not "my children bought a huge home in Potomac."
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@Foodnerd81: We are the exact same way! I love reading them because I typically think they are really funny, but I would never send one. ETA: We get really braggy ones or ones that have a trying-too-hard theme. There is one guy (granted he is super smart) that even signs his credentials after his name - "John Smith MD, PHD, MBA"
To me, holiday cards are to send good cheer to your family and friends, not to inform people you haven't seen all year what you have been up to. I get why people do it, it's just not my cup of tea.
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I like them! I'm awful at keeping in touch with people, so it's a chance for me to hear about things I've missed out on.
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@TemperanceBrennan: the ABC soup is baaad, put that on your return label/ stamp.
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My husband HATES them. We got one from my uncle and aunt and he was like "we are never doing that." I am rather indifferent to the letters, I probably will never do them, not because I don't like them, but because I suck at getting my thoughts on to paper.
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I love receiving them!!! I love hearing how people have spent their year, especially if we were unable to keep in touch throughout. I like writing them, in theory, but never do because I'm lazy
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Yes I read them, love it. I think a nice SHORT message is okay, I hate the 2+ pages ones...seriously condense it!
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I like reading them.
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I like reading them because they can be really cringeworthy or really funny.
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I don't get them from friends! And don't mind that I don't!
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I don't get any!
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I did it twice a few years ago and then never did it again despite enjoying receiving them from others. The problem is that my husband and I lead fairly adventurous and blessed lives so I guess we came across as braggy but to this day I'm still not sure how I could have worded it otherwise. I mean, we lived in Europe at the time and spent most of our free time traveling and all I said was that we were blessed to have been able to have so many great travel experiences throughout the year and inserted a few small photos from various places that were special to us. A few of my friends and relatives later said (teasingly but still honestly) it was like getting a "look at how much more awesome our lives are than yours" kind of thing, like we were rubbing it in their faces. Talk about awkward. I felt so ashamed and embarrassed (still not even sure why I felt this way) that I stopped doing it altogether.
That being said, a friend has been a reservist chaplain for a couple of years now and puts his rank both on the return address as well as the signature and it's sadly pathetic every time. We get it. You're an officer in the military one weekend a month. You can stop making sure everyone knows now, please.
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@TemperanceBrennan: I got nervous when I saw I had a reply. I was like... Wait, I really am going to hell... Haha but yes it's just the cringeworthy ones. I only get a couple and one is tha cringe one. I do like reading them but they get braggy really fast.
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I love reading them especially for those that aren't on FB.
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@however briefly: this is my point. If you had a great year it's impossible not to sound like you are bragging even if you are trying not to. And it is sad because I'm sure your letters were much more interesting than: Johnny is in the fourth grade and made the baseball team.
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I like them, I read them, I don't write them. I asked Wagon Sr. if we should write one this year and he said yes, but then as we started thinking about what to write I nixed the idea. He's a writer (a creative one at that, a poet) so anything involving him and writing becomes a major battle.
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At this point, I just write a note on each of our cards, so it's not totally impersonal, but I actually love getting letters. We get cards from a lot of people who we care about but live far away from and often miss out on the details of what's going on other than marriages, births, deaths, kind of stuff. For me, it helps me to feel like I'm still more connected. Of course, most of the ones are just about what the kids are up to, etc., not like raving about their amazing trip around the world in only 5-star hotels or something. That might get a little annoying.
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I read them, but they're generic like "wishing you and your family a wonderful year" so no stories of their life. We send photo cards so no additional message from us!
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I've never gotten one, but I don't like them. I agree with those above who say that if I'm not close enough to you to know what is going on (at least via fb or something??) then I probably don't need to read about it in a letter. I just find them very awkward and braggy.
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I'm fine with getting them, and I write them. lol Even the 2 bee's I sent cards to are getting one. Whoops.
I agree it's a way to make a card a wee-bit more personal. It's kinda lame since it's just DH and I, so mostly we talk about places we traveled to, who's weddings we went to, etc. I guess it's a bit braggy but it's better then saying "Well we still haven't had a baby, so we took a lot of trips this year."
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We only get 2-3 letters per year, and I write a little "blurb" on our cards and handwrite our names, along with a little message "Happy holidays, missing you, etc."
I usually find them to be cringeworthy (only the one I get from the hubs' uncle doesn't sound like a humblebrag), but can't help myself from reading them.
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We don't get any from our friends! I wouldn't mind though since we don't always get to catch up with people if they aren't on FB.
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I love receiving the annual year-end letters but only a few send them out now-a-days. I read them and save them but we don't write one. I don't think they come across as braggy at all.
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We used to send one out every year with our Christmas cards growing up (though not to our whole list, just certain people) and everyone loved it. I did a yearline card through Minted this year which is like a mini-newsey thing, just 3 little blurbs about our year. I really do love them though, so much fun!
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I handwrite a little note on our cards. We have moved a lot, so for many people we haven't seen them all year or in several years. I handwrote 3 letters to catch up with some people that I haven't had the chance to otherwise. I think that's okay (I hope it is!).
We got one letter that I found to be ridiculous...but I almost prefer that to a card that's just stuffed in an envelope.
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Nope! I think Facebook has rendered the Christmas letter pretty much useless! I also question whether or not it is appropriate to call so much attention to myself at Christmas, especially when the purpose of a card is to let the recipient know we are thinking of them, We do a photo card and that is sufficiently braggy for me. I know my family and other parent friends like them but I am sure my non parents friends groan inwardly when they see them. I can't help it, he is my thing to brag about these days, lol!
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I grew up loving to read the few letters that came with select cards, so this year I wrote a letter about all of the changes in our life this year. I had no idea some people hate this. It has me feeling really uneasy. Luckily I don't think our friends and family would think we're writing it to seem braggy but I guess we'll see if we get any push back.
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I like the cute, informative ones. I hate the braggy ones. This year I will probably ignore all of them, because we've had a pretty shitty year and I don't need to feel worse about myself, lol.
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@Foodnerd81: Totally agree. It's really hard for these letters to come across as anything other than braggy, because it's a bummer to include negative things.
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36 comments