Does anyone else hate getting "newsletters" in holiday cards?

I just got one from my aunt which details all their fabulous ski junkets, golf trips and the "news" about her grown sons and their families. I say "news" because it's all so perfect sounding.

It all strikes me as so....manufactured or phony or something. Not to mention completely inconsiderate to those of us who have no way to jet set around like that.

I suppose I shouldn't expect a "fair and balanced" newsletter.... but it just seems so unreal to me. I hardly know these cousins anyway and I hardly feel I know them any better from this shallow update. I doubt she'd put something about their stint in rehab or whatever.

I guess I'm just a grinch...

:evilgrin:

Sometimes this is the only way to keep track of old friends and acquaintances.

This question has been posted before, in prior hollidays...

:hi:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x2330329

that the only ones I get are not from close friends or relatives. Only from the ones that I hardly know and who would never share anything but the most shallow almost bragging letters.
They almost read like a commercial for how great they are.

Obviously your experience has been different.

of the senders in more ways than we realize.

So I guess it's not the medium, but the message that matters. Our message basically is this:

Life goes on, we miss you, wish you were here to share it with us.

We're late with our letter this year because life has been rough, but some of the things that will go in there are:

A visit from a cousin I had not seen in literally 20 years,
A son with two broken fingers (punched the door frame in anger - ouch!),
got laid off, found a new job,
Hiking Mt Washington in the middle of a storm...

You know, the usual every day life events.

:hi:

You sound like a real family. Not the Wannabees from Bob Weaver's post. That's the kind of sh*t I get.

for example, my distant cousin every year sends out a tri-fold, glossy, 4-color BROCHURE of their year's activities with the family. It takes forever to read through it all and by the time I'm done, I feel like I've lived with them! Seriously, it's a bit much, in my opinion.

Is there such a thing as TOO MUCH INFORMATION? Definitely.

:hi:

I hope I don't get one of those.

I just don't CARE that much about what people I've hardly seen have been doing all year...isn't that kind of a big assumption? I think it's enough to
send good wishes and greetings.

you mean you don't *care* about your friend's neighbor's dog's visit to the vet described in excruciating detail in part of a 3 page typed holiday newsletter?

I'm serious. It's in there! Took nearly a paragraph itself. :)

I could use that 'card' from your cousin as an example.

That does sound like a little much. LOL

I like reading about good things that have happened in the lives of my friends and family. I see most of them fairly regularly, but even so, I may not be completely up-to-date on what has been happening in their lives, so it's good to get caught up.

:hi:

but someone at least took the time to write them out and to send them to me

that's something!

;-)

newsletters have their place (especially if someone is moving to a new location and you're sending it to update them). What's the problem?

It's from 1998, when we moved from Massachusetts to Oregon. It's sort of a combination change of address form and birth announcement for my daughter's new baby. She will be nine years old January 31... how time flies.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=5974737&mesg_id=5978828

You've got me with that photo. It's past midnight here and I should be asleep. Who are they? Is that James Dean? I'm stumped...

Happy holidays to you!

A progressive Santa in blue!

Ursula Andress on her 19th Birthday.

The kind where everything good that happened was because God loves them and everything bad that happened was because God was testing them?

And everyone in their family is so successful and nice and sweet and great and . . . etc.

Yeah, I hate those.

At least I don't get the religious type.

But the ones I do get, are from people I don't know that well (that's right, I hardly know this aunt). Everything they right sounds like they are so perfect.

I feel like I know people here better than that. At least they tell you what's really happening in their lives. Not just how great they are and how fabulous their lives are.

:puke:

At least I don't get the religious type.

But the ones I do get, are from people I don't know that well (that's right, I hardly know this aunt). Everything they right sounds like they are so perfect.

I feel like I know people here better than that. At least they tell you what's really happening in their lives. Not just how great they are and how fabulous their lives are.

:puke:

religious ones

luckily don't get many of those:hide:

Two different sides of the family. Maybe that's because everybody's too busy to write anymore.

Dear Friend,

It is that time of year again to share with you our adventures in this journey we call life. 2006 has been another year of magic and wonder...

Lori almost 3, is quite a talker. She continues to amaze the professors at the University with her intuition in foreign languages. It was fun for her to serve as Official Translator for Warren Christopher at the Bosnian-Serbian Peace Talks. She intends to spend this Holiday transcribing War and Peace into Arabic and Cantonese.

Chris, now 5, is growing in leaps and bounds. When he got his first set of building blocks he seemed quite interested in large buildings. This year he designed his first skyscraper and ground was broken in Hong Kong for the new "Little Man" Towers. It is great to have a budding architect at home as he made a new addition to the house and a wonderful gazebo for our garden. Martha Stewart will be filming her next show here in April.

Betsy had a very busy year. In between her work as President of the American Cancer Society and Senior Partner of Goldman Sachs, she introduced a line of children's novels and hand made active-wear. She remains occupied with the children and has introduced them to Yoga and power walking this year. We are particularly proud of Mom as a starting forward representing the United States in the World Cup.

Dave was immersed with his Graduate School studies, and managed to co-author a paper on Multidimensional Customer Attribute Analysis by Conjoint Survey and accept a Nobel Prize for his discoveries in Quantum Physics. Along the way Dave took three startups through their IPO. We are proud of his work serving on the Board of Directors of IBM, Coca-Cola, and Walt Disney. Dad was also active with the kids teaching Lauren Ballet and helping to lower Chris' handicap to 5. We were able to squeeze a little traveling in this year. We started in Aspen, went to Belarus, the Congo, Denmark, Ethiopia, the Falklands, Greenland, Holland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Venezuela, and Zaire. Our trip sailing our new boat around the world was a great experience for the kids, we learned to communicate with Dolphins and discovered a new region of deep water volcanoes.

And Sergeant, our German shepherd, learned to speak. Latin. Other than that, it was a very quiet year. So from our household to yours, all the Blessings of the Season and may your New Year be prosperous.

We found out yesterday that we won the $150 Million Powerball Lottery.

The Wannabes,
Betsy, Dave, Chris & Lori

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Eaxactly!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

:applause:

into my folder of great quotes. That was just perfect. Thanks

Always raising the bar for owners of talking pets everywhere!

Perfect!

My family's holiday letter this year started out with shocking and unexpected news which segued into the entertaining story that resulted from the event. I don't do traditional.

I can't stand them either. They are the print version of those ads where the people are all white, middle-aged, and impossibly happy.

Plus, I don't give a shit about the mundane details of their empty lives.

Now I feel better.

It's the self importance, stupid. :silly:

they certainly don't bother me. We just got one today from a Republican family that we broke off contact with last year. But now, I think we'll re-connect with them next year.

Check your feelings about the sender. Maybe that has something to do with it.

The sender is someone who has never tried to get to know me or anyone in my family. My uncle is my mother's only brother and they could give a shit about us. When our family has had crises they didn't lift a finger to help, just give my parents their condescending advice. They have plenty of that.

Her letter is always just as lacking in real caring and connection.

I think she was just jealous. She ended up eliminating us from her life after we made a big trip to visit her and her husband, as well as the grandson who was born without us even knowing about it. Five months after he was born, we were finally sent a "birth announcement." We saw him twice, and that was it.

So be it. It's their loss!

I never had the person I was talking about in my life in the first place, so I think this is a little different. I would never complain to her about the newsletter either...I was just annoyed. It's really not that big of a deal to me.
I can't imagine eliminating someone from my life over something like that. All relatives are annoying in some way or another. I don't like the letter, but I don't hate the person.

I met and married their father and thought I was doing pretty well as a stepmother to three, and mother to two.

Regrettably, I was judged and their father was judged over and over during their teenaged years. The breach between our families kind of started in 1985 with a college girl who wanted to marry a man who had impregnated her. We helped them buy a house and their daughter was born. After that, we counseled with the older girl for almost a year. She revealed she had never felt close to her father, my husband, because he was always travelling on business, while the mother (an angel) stayed home.

To make a long story short, we gave them both trips, money, contributed to weddings, gifts for them and the children, but it was all for naught.

My husband will never trust them again. He feels used and unappreciated for the care we did give them. I feel certain they will never wish to be in our lives again. Sorry to bore you with the facts, but at this time of the year, I always feel like there is something more to be done. But a psychologist opened my eyes in 2001 by saying, "Why are you doing this to yourself? These are his children, you did what you could to raise them and care for them after their mother died. Does everybody have to love you? Can you accept that a couple of people in this world don't like you for whatever reason? Now stop obsessing about it. Case closed."

Seriously.

But they were often written in the third person, like they hired the society columnist at the local newspaper to write it, when clearly it was written by my Aunt. :-) All kinds of references to herself and her family by name and what they were up to over the past year.

:rofl:

you want me to catch up on your life so much then fucking call me and we'll talk--or if it was personalized and handwritten in the card (which would automatically make then leave out more of the trite information like where you bought your kitchen floor tile. newsflash: i don't give a shit where your tile came from)

yes. the xmas form letters are cold & lacking connection/intimacy

Some of them even have travel pictures,too.

The guy's kinda cute, too...

The Cutey is Skipper Dennis Conner, Defender of the America's Cup.

We did get to Puerto Rico and Bermuda recently.

I have never heard of Skipper Conner. He's very patriotic looking... in his R/W/B outfit.

Oh, he made the cover of TIME in the 90s. How impressive! Thanks for the information.

Those are gorgeous photos.

Right, so, it's hard to send photos like those, with the postcard rate. :)

The ones I get seem to be more factual, less creative or bragging.

Mostly about who got married, divorced, died, born, graduated, had an operation, got transferred from one military post to another.

Nothing about who won the Powerball. Fortunately not too much news about who got convicted or did community service.

Pretty boring stuff, but still nice. If I want more "behind the scenes" info about any of the news, I have a phone.

They always seem to me to be akin to bragging about how perfect their family is. Ick.

with a little birth announcement at the end.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Move to Oregon Accomplished by Grandma Radio_Lady and Grandpa… (OF COURSE WE USED OUR REAL NAMES...!!!)

At Last!

The winter was long, and the separation difficult, but Grandma Radio_Lady and Grandpa never faltered in their dedication or their love. “I was pretty well settled in the West, working at my job and living in a small apartment,“ Grandpa remarked. “Grandma was still in the East, handling her contracting position and maintaining our family home until it sold. It wasn’t easy for either of us.”

They passed the holidays together in Portland, Oregon, searching for a suitable home. They realized that they would be thrust apart once again in a few days. Remarkably, they found a piece of land up on a hill. “I told Grandma I would fulfill her dream of building a brand-new home to our particular specifications,“ Grandpa said. “Grandma had always wanted to do that, but was never able to accomplish it.”

“I was thrilled Grandpa was willing to act as construction supervisor, taking time evenings and weekends to oversee the construction of our home,“ Grandma reflected. Construction began in January, and was completed in August. All went without a hitch. Now it is done. A new life stretches before them in their brand-new home at 23456 XXXXXXXX Avenue, XXXXXX, Oregon 90000.

Spring Landscaping + Two Delighted Occupants = A Beautiful New Home
(Picture here)

Grandma and Grandpa did have difficult days. One was their 25th wedding anniversary on February 4, 1998. They were separated by 2,750 miles. He went to Burgerville in Portland, OR and had the fries, even though he wasn’t supposed to. She had spicy Mexican food at Sierras Restaurant in Sudbury, MA, even though she wasn’t supposed to. They decided that next year would be different. Even before the move, they promised each other they would find a suitable place and hold a rededication ceremony. Their love would be pledged until the end, or perhaps for another twenty-five years (whichever came first), although neither of them wanted to do the math. They emailed each other daily, flirting, supporting, cajoling, and extolling their love. They maintained a connection with each other through the endless winter weather. Nothing was easy, except their continued devotion to each other and to the accomplishment of the task at hand.

This Space Reserved for Grandchild News!

During the winter, one bright fact remained to keep Grandma and Grandpa going. Daughter, Lxxxx, and son-in-law Axxxx were expecting their first child. All of it was happening in Oregon near where they were building their home.

On the 31st of January, at (TIME?) the happy event occurred. Gabrielle Shoshana was born to two amazed parents.
Now (AGE) months old, (NAME) is the light of everyone’s life, especially her six grandparents. (ETC., etc.)
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Worst written drivel ever...

I got one this week, one page, used the word Bless, blessing, blessed over 20 times...

Sheesh. I get it. You're blessed...

RL

About having to take little Ashley for her first abortion, Dad losing his job because he was skimming a little off the top, Mom needing to go to rehab for her Valium addiction, et al.