# Circular Letters **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 27, 2006, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/circular-letters/385693 "2006-12-27T01:29:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/circular-letters/385693/21 "2007-01-02T00:49:09Z")
[QUOTE=BoBettie] Holy crap, I wish you would see if anyone still has a copy of those. I would love to read them. [/QUOTE] My mom saves stuff like that.. I can call and ask if she still has any of them. I’ll update ya when I find out. ---
**Author:** ![Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heffalump_and_roo/32/7691_2.png) [@Heffalump\_and\_Roo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heffalump_and_Roo)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/circular-letters/385693/22 "2007-01-02T06:16:37Z")
[QUOTE=mhendo] Ah, the annual holiday letter rant. [Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=350045) is a link to last year’s edition. I tend to agree with you, but as you will see from last year’s thread, there are those who take a somewhat different view. [/QUOTE] Thanks for posting that link. It makes me feel a lot better. I don’t care one way or the other about receiving these letters, but one year, because I had heard that I wasn’t keeping in touch often enough, decided to write one of these letters. Now, one of the reasons I didn’t keep in touch was because I knew that most of these people weren’t happy for my successes and wanted to rub my nose in my failures. I didn’t need to provide any of my failures in the letter since they all had heard about them, I’m sure from others, so since it was a pretty good year, I just highlighted a few good things that were happening to me. I got the most blaring silence ever. And this is what I came away with. Most people are like the OP poster. They don’t care about your life at all. When they say they want to keep in touch with you, they want to tell you about _their_ life. They don’t give a hoot about yours. But I already hear much about their life from others, so why bother. To the OP poster, perhaps you can send back a polite letter asking that you be taken off their list next year. They have obviously mistaken you for someone who is cheering their success. I know that, from my experience, I’m much more wary about who I share my successes with. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/circular-letters/385693/23 "2007-01-09T16:05:25Z")
[QUOTE=BoBettie] Holy crap, I wish you would see if anyone still has a copy of those. I would love to read them. [/QUOTE] Sorry to resurrect this thread, but I got ahold of one of the letters. My mom sent me one from their new kitchen sent this year. I won’t write the whole thing here, just the interesting parts and summaries of the other paragraphs. > [@](#): > > We hope this card finds you in good health… holiday cheer… etc.. > > Now, where to begin? We skipped last year due to construction of moi… the new kitchen in the old farm house these people live in. They made me write the card, since I am part of the reason, [sic] they didn’t write last year. Go figure… I have all kinds of time savings [sic] devices, and they still blame me for their inability to get their act together! It has been a year of major renovation in the house. > > [small image of new kitchen] > > Anyway, the goings on around here have been many, only now they actually congregate around my countertops. I like the company. we had a big event in June of this past year followed by a big party in August. Mary [name change] graduated high school winning the Spanish award and graduation near the top of her class. Then something strange happened. They made empanadas and dulce de leche and put them in my refrigerator. This was all to celebrate not only the graduation, but her departure for Spain for the next year on a Rotary Exchange… Next year she will attend Georgetown in .DC [sic] > > [talk of other child in Mexico on another exchange program]… We forgot to have a talk before she left though… didn’t know they use Celsius for cooking down there and she blew out the front of the oven trying to make chocolate chip cookies… Poor oven. She stayed with a family that Lisa met while they were not using my services hardly at all. Mike’s a great cook, but with 4 kids to chauffer and no mate, they ate a lot of pizza! > > [talk of another kid] She will probably follow her sisters to [name of what I assume is a prestigious private school]. > > [Talk of 8 year old kid studying the clarinet and in the championship lately for soccer] He, being the baby, is most needy when I see him. Can’t reach the glasses in my cabinets. > > [insert image of family on vacation] > > We have one more this year.. Meg from England. You guessed it, a Rotary Exchange student. I think I like it best when she uses my stove and oven. She really likes the kitchen and has taken care of my family well! > > Mike held down the fort while Lisa traveled and has been responsible for all the renovation 9’cept me-they hired a contracter for that!) The business is cranking along and in its 14th year! > > [paragraph about wife’s trip to Mexico] > > I am happy to say that my family feels blessed with all their good health and abilities this year. I am just happy my family likes to gather in me and spend time together still. Although they are busy, the love still shows! > > Happy holidays to all and say hi to your fridge from me! > > Love, > > The kitchen at [their home address], [the name of the husband’s business], list of the other names in the family. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2007, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/circular-letters/385693/24 "2007-01-09T16:08:29Z")
_9’cept_ is \*('cept, \* sorry, typo I missed in preview. ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/circular-letters/385693/25 "2007-01-10T01:21:29Z")
A letter from the kitchen- reminds me of the old answering machine message that says "Hi, this is the microwave speaking. If you leave a message, I’ll stick it on the fridge so that the Smiths see it. " Ugh! People are insane! ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/circular-letters/385693/26 "2007-01-10T17:08:15Z")
[QUOTE=CMiller] I think you might enjoy some of the stories/letters from [Holidays On Ice](http://www.amazon.com/Holidays-Ice-Stories-David-Sedaris/dp/0316779237/sr=8-1/qid=1167204251/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-1511674-8891123?ie=UTF8&s=books) by David Sedaris. [/QUOTE] Is that the one where his mom realizes someone is wiping shit off on the bathroom towels and appoints David to find out who? As far as the OP, my parents receive one from a high school friend which could be considered a parody, only he is earnestly serious. Full of malapropisms and neologisms only he could come up with. Unfortunately, the latest one was full of news about his current wife’s serious injury so it wasn’t as fun as previous years’. ---
**Author:** ![Elza\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Elza\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elza_B)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2007, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/circular-letters/385693/27 "2007-01-10T17:16:24Z")
I had to laugh at one of these that I received this year from my aunt. Acual letter: “We’re all happily involved in our activities. Will (son) is enjoying his first year in the priesthood. Elizabeth (daughter) and Michael (fiance) are happily planning their wedding for December 30th. We can’t wait to see all of you at the wedding!” What the letter _really_ should have said: “We’re all rushing around like chickens with heads cut off because we’re trying to conceal a huge family secret and save face. Will is enjoying his first year in the priesthood. Elizabeth and Michael are supposedly getting married on December 30th, but actually, they got married back in August after the discovery of a surprise pregnancy, and Elizabeth is now five months along! But we probably shouldn’t tell ANYONE about that, so you’ll all find out at the shower two days before the wedding, including Aunt Anne’s very Catholic and straightlaced mother. We can’t wait to see all of you at the wedding and piss you off because of all of the secrets we’ve kept!” E. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/circular-letters/385693.md?page=1)