Does anyone else hate those damn end of year letters families send out?

[Carbo]

I received one the other day from an out of state family I barely know. Extraordinary details about the multiple successes of every family member. Truly must have been a time consuming effort to put that letter together.
Made me feel inadequate. . .until I watched the Giants play on Sunday night. Then I realized how bad they are and I feel oh so wonderful. Whatever it takes. . .

 

[wwswimming]

yeah, i'm not particularly fond of them. i had one friend that i thought was a friend.
but the only time i heard from him was when he wanted money for his AIDS bicycle
ride, and when he sent out his Xmas letter talking about his AIDS bicycle ride.

 

[kranky]

Send a simple Christmas card with a personal note saying, "We very much enjoyed reading about your family's 2007 activities. We know your continued hard work will someday lead to some level of success and even if not, we will still consider people like you to be our friends. Don't be discouraged if it takes a little longer, as we know we were lucky to have done it already."

 

[Leros]

Originally posted by: BrownTown
My parents get one every year from some friends they had in college and its all of the gloating like the example given by the OP. Funny thing is in terms of all the stuff they were bragging about they were worse off than my family so really it was kinda sad how they were acting all great and really weren't. for example they send one about how their great kids are now at average public colleges and how great that is, except then my and my brother are both at top 20 (according to those stupid rankings FWIW) private colleges with scholarships and stuff. Any then now their kids are off making 40k and they talking about how wonderful that is except me and my brother are gonna be making 60k out of college and so on.

You sound kind of like the same jerks who send out those cards. Yeah, their kids didn't get into MIT or Berkley but they can still be proud of their kids for going to a decent college.

 

[clamum]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
The Thompsons fing rock!

:laugh:

No I've never seen one of those, OP. Sounds pretty douchey though.

 

[LookingGlass]

Has anyone ever received a BAD letter? No.......I haven't at least.

 

[broon]

My sister sent one out one year mocking those. She doesn't have any kids but has two dogs. So she would say things like "dog #1 learned how to read this year and he's only 2 years old". It was very creative, mocking everything about those damn letters, and was an excellent example of how the letters should be.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
The Thompsons fing rock!

LOL

 

[KB]

Originally posted by: broon
My sister sent one out one year mocking those. She doesn't have any kids but has two dogs. So she would say things like "dog #1 learned how to read this year and he's only 2 years old". It was very creative, mocking everything about those damn letters, and was an excellent example of how the letters should be.

I had friends who sent the same thing except about their cat. They would go into long narratives about their cat swimming the amazon and exploring France. I liked those letters much more.

 

[Modeps]

I like it when I get letters that have information about me in them... and I never said it was OK to tell everyone that information.

 

[dainthomas]

Originally posted by: BrownTown
My parents get one every year from some friends they had in college and its all of the gloating like the example given by the OP. Funny thing is in terms of all the stuff they were bragging about they were worse off than my family so really it was kinda sad how they were acting all great and really weren't. for example they send one about how their great kids are now at average public colleges and how great that is, except then my and my brother are both at top 20 (according to those stupid rankings FWIW) private colleges with scholarships and stuff. Any then now their kids are off making 40k and they talking about how wonderful that is except me and my brother are gonna be making 60k out of college and so on.

What's wrong with them being proud of their kids for doing well at a "lowly" state school?

We send out Christmas letters every year letting distant acquaintances know how we're doing. We generally leave out salary and school ranking information though.

 

[bigrash]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
The Thompsons fing rock!

haha! OP is just jealous.

 

[Skipholiday]

I get one from a close relative that includes the xmas photo.

Are they trying to brighten your day or convince themselves that life is good?

 

[ViviTheMage]

nope, never got those letters....but many, the Thompson's are living it for real!

 

[Randum]

yeah these are stupid and so are the pictures! I was thinking, that I told my dad, we need to make one up thats suppose to be funny.

"little Jimmy is all grown up now and has started to take a liking to kicking small dogs when he sees them. I have gained about 30 lbs from not doing anything because I am considered a full time bum"

You could get really creative, and at the end, you can say you're just kidding or something. Those bragging letters are nothing more than someone well...just bragging!

I went to our family's thanksgiving, first one since post-college for me, and not a single family member asked what I was doing. but we sure heard about everyone else! Sometimes, people are just a bit too self absorbed...

 

[mikej007]

One of my aunts/uncles sends those sometimes, they're usually full of polished turds, designed to make their kids sound better than they really are. My father was going to write one a few years ago to send to them saying stuff like "Mike's due to be released from prison next month" and "Sarah's pregnant again and we don't know by who" etc just to piss them off.

I guess it took too much effort because he never sent it out. Oh well, we dont really see/talk to that side of the family anyway...

 

[sdifox]

A wee bit out of date. That was good back in the pony express days when you only write 1 letter a year to a particular family and essentially you summerise the year for them. These days they just seem weird.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: Jhill
The ones like this.

Greetings from the Thompsons,

This year was Great. Jed made a fortune in the stock market and drives a Porsche. I new BMW SUV is great too. My boob job is complete and they are huge and firm. Guys ogle over me everywhere I go. Johnny graduated from Yale and has has 97 job offers and his finance says he is hung like a horse. Mary Graduated from Harvard and makes 6 digits. Little Jane married a rich investment banker and is set for life. Her children are too good for public schools so they go to a private school. We just got back from Australia (flew first class of course) and now we are moving into our 45,000 sq ft home. I really hope the Olympic size pool is ready for summer, since we have TONS of friends that like to come to our parties.

Merry xmas

PS I lost 20 pounds and Jed lost 15 pounds since last year.

I cannot stand those letters. "My life is great, and thereby yours sucks"

 

[Tiamat]

I've never received any letters like this.

 

[MyThirdEye]

Compare the Thompson life to yours, and then kill yourself.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

All I get is a newsletter from the eco-justice center my Aunts run

http://www.racinedominicans.org/pages/eco.cfm

 

[ktehmok]

I never read what is on the cards or letters. Scotch tape it to the fireplace/whatever, then toss it. They could be in prison awaiting a 500 lash caning & I wouldn't know.

 

[jjzelinski]

Originally posted by: Leros

Originally posted by: BrownTown
My parents get one every year from some friends they had in college and its all of the gloating like the example given by the OP. Funny thing is in terms of all the stuff they were bragging about they were worse off than my family so really it was kinda sad how they were acting all great and really weren't. for example they send one about how their great kids are now at average public colleges and how great that is, except then my and my brother are both at top 20 (according to those stupid rankings FWIW) private colleges with scholarships and stuff. Any then now their kids are off making 40k and they talking about how wonderful that is except me and my brother are gonna be making 60k out of college and so on.

You sound kind of like the same jerks who send out those cards. Yeah, their kids didn't get into MIT or Berkley but they can still be proud of their kids for going to a decent college.

I was thinking the same thing. Thanks for the update BT, reaaaaally looking forward to next years edition!

 

[Skunkwourk]

Originally posted by: hungfarover

Originally posted by: Pocatello
Is this an Asian thing or other people like to gloat too?

not an azn thing at all. it's a look-at-me thing. my parents still get these from long lost "friends" who are very caucasian.

Isn't the asian thing to tell everyone how terrible your children are.

OP, Just write back and say you saved a bunch on insurance switching to Geico.