UKC

I listened to a repeat of Lynne Truss' nasty little critique of Christmas Circulars this morning and thought, despite never sending one myself and rarely receiving one, I rather like them.

So what would yours say for this year?

In reply to The New NickB:

Eat cake and be excellent to each other dudes and dudettas xXx

In reply to The New NickB: I LOVE reading them, but hate them at the same time, oh and she is doing them all week! listened to Mondays and Tuesdays, cant wait for today's!!!

as for what mine would say, i would never write one!!!

In reply to The New NickB: They would be so much better if people were honest in them

" September saw my drive belt snap on the A406. After an hour waiting in the rain, I eventually got though the to AA to join and have then tow me back home.
October saw us finally fall over the fiscal cliff of our credit card as we needed to get a new credit card to start paying the minimum amount on the old one. Jane finally cut up her store cards.
November I had a prostate check, all clear."

Much better than reading about how good Little Johhny was in the school play

In reply to The New NickB:

I just think it is sad when you get a card from someone that you never see, and it just says "to Tlm from Nora".

I'd rather have a circular than nothing. But they do vary in quality - some I love, some just feel a bit false or are about other people that I don't really know. But how else to get your news to people, other than sending less news to less people?

In reply to The New NickB:

I think they are a cop out. You are writing to a supposed "friend" ffs!

They should be personally addressed to the recipient and worded to suit the circumstances and character of that person, so each letter will vary slightly. They should be handwritten and cover up to 1 page of A4, no more than 2 or they become tedious.

Otherwise don't bother.

In reply to The New NickB: I don't mind them, but I do get an email one from an older friend every Christmas which goes on and on and on!
He's always done it and before he had email, did it on a card. He does have a tendency to witter and known for being slow. He makes James May look like a speed freak. Once rode pillion on his bike at 40-50mph all the way from London to the Stour... LOOOONNNG journey.
Get a pint inside him though and he transforms into the most entertaining chap around.

In reply to Trangia:


You can always add a personal comment in the card as well as giving more detailed news in a circular...

I think my mum and dad get a comedy one from one of their friends.

I'm not sure the pages and pages of Johnny did .... are the norm.

In reply to Philip:

It is just a tired cliche, which is easy to snipe at by people who are generally more tedious than the circulars!

In reply to The New NickB:

In my opinion the people who send xmas circulars are the same folk who post inane, self absorbed ramblings on social media, utterly deluded into thinking people give a t0ss about thats happening in their lives.

'Mark has made burgers'
'Dave is eating a cookie his beautiful daughter made'
'Mavis has an itchy biff'

In reply to Pinged:

I post inane shite on social media but I don't much like christmas circulars, just to confuse matters

Nick - no idea what mine would say - Clare has had a complex year and is now having therapy? My aunt used to send them, full of news of my massively high-achieving cousins, and we'd always just look a bit rubbish if one were to compare.

In reply to Tall Clare:

The bragging thing would grate, but I sort of hope my friends and family would not do that.

Mine would be along the lines of "it's been a difficult year, but things are definitely looking up".

In reply to Tall Clare:

You've just articulated it perfectly TC poeple like to boast about how amazing they are...the people who are vain enough to want to tell everyone on there xmas card list (theres another thing...xmas card lists...I mean I aks you...tick for sent, tick for recieved...)just what a wonderful and fruitful year they have had are really only sending it because it gives them a warm sense of self-worth.

Gosh Im feeling vitriolic this morning.

Dear All (mine would say) This Year Pinged has been vitriolic, intolerant and mouthy. He has achieved very little that would mean much to you...you materialistic, slef-absorbed cretins"

In reply to The New NickB: When at Uni my house mates and I used to always write a tongue in cheek a Christmas letter and send it to all of our friends. A couple of them used to write for one of the student papers so was usually quite funny if a bit politically incorrect.

In reply to The New NickB: Simon Hoggart is particularly supercilious about them. Well that's fine, he's paid to socialise, has grown up kids and he lives in London, so can socialise easily; some of us don't get to see our friends and relations so much so it's a good opportunity to catch up.

From which you can infer we like both sending them and receiving them. I thinks ours give a fairly succint 'warts and all' summary of the year, we aren't particularly bragging nor are we whingeing. Just giving news, that's all. (And they're interesting to read 10 years later, which is about as long as we've been sending them - a bit of family history, really.)

In reply to The New NickB: Our newsletter starts: 'this is ours for 2012.

Which has been quite tough, to be honest...'

In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

Threads like this pop up every year and make me worry about something that seemed fairly harmless until you look at it in this light. Like you say, I like getting them, and think a card with no news is a lost opportunity to keep in touch and to know how someone is. I just put in the main things from my year, just news, but after reading these threads over the years, I do try to make sure I'm not sounding too happy! ha ha!! Just in case someone with a worrisome chip takes my happiness for boasting or smugness....

I'd rather give up sending them rather than getting them, so anyone else who has worried about sending them - keep on sending them!

In reply to Tall Clare: I don't get this at all. I like hearing about friends and relatives (er, that's why they're friends, and blood's thicker than water and all that) so I assume that they are interested to know what we're up to. They're not competitive (though I can imagine some people would make them so.)

In reply to Trangia:
>>

I feel the same way about people that send texts wishing me a Merry Christmas and/or a Happy New Year. It means nothing to me if it's clearly sent to everyone in your contacts list.

In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

Simon Hoggart is particularly hypocritical about them, considering all his columns are variations on a theme of "What I did on holidays" and "What I did at my book launch".

In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

I think the reason I don't like them is the massively competitive ones we used to get about the other half of our family.

I don't imagine everyone's are quite that irritating

In reply to Tall Clare:
How about just cut and pasting from FB for the past 12 months?

In reply to The New NickB:

And just in case anyone missed it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9779000/9779021.stm