# Mystery Christmas card from a stranger sent to my home address: should I be concerned? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 31, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-christmas-card-from-a-stranger-sent-to-my-home-address-should-i-be-concerned/741788 "2015-12-31T01:40:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-christmas-card-from-a-stranger-sent-to-my-home-address-should-i-be-concerned/741788/1 "2015-12-31T01:40:34Z")
Have you ever received a Christmas card from someone, at your home address, and not had any clue whatsoever who the sender is? It has a photo of their lovely family on it, and it’s quite Jesus-y, and I can’t find anything that marks it as any kind of bulk advertising. Other than the fact that the senders are complete strangers, it’s a totally normal family Christmas card (if you’re as Jesus-y as they apparently are). The creepy part? I looked up the father’s name on Facebook (the photo matches the card), and he’s a Web developer…for my health insurer. Should I be concerned that he is mixing his home and work databases? Which is kind of a potentially huge health privacy issue? ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-christmas-card-from-a-stranger-sent-to-my-home-address-should-i-be-concerned/741788/2 "2015-12-31T02:26:33Z")
Never mind - I figured out who it is. It’s a family living near us (friends of a friend) whose house burned down last winter because there was too much snow for the fire truck to get through - we donated some stuff to them. I had totally forgotten about the whole thing! ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-christmas-card-from-a-stranger-sent-to-my-home-address-should-i-be-concerned/741788/3 "2015-12-31T02:48:24Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > Never mind - I figured out who it is. It’s a family living near us (friends of a friend) whose house burned down last winter because there was too much snow for the fire truck to get through - we donated some stuff to them. I had totally forgotten about the whole thing! Uh, no. Unacceptable resolution! Way too normal! There’s no suspense - no intrigue! We need something we can sink our teeth into! Make something up! Pretty please? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-christmas-card-from-a-stranger-sent-to-my-home-address-should-i-be-concerned/741788/4 "2015-12-31T03:33:32Z")
> [@Missy2U](#): > > Uh, no. Unacceptable resolution! Way too normal! There’s no suspense - no intrigue! > > We need something we can sink our teeth into! > > Make something up! Pretty please? 😃 Sorry, I’m not often literarily inclined that way 🙂 Anyone else care to take the baton and run with it? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-christmas-card-from-a-stranger-sent-to-my-home-address-should-i-be-concerned/741788/5 "2015-12-31T03:38:11Z")
What if his family died in the fire and he just continues to send out family cards anyway? Or what if he never had a family and faked them? ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-christmas-card-from-a-stranger-sent-to-my-home-address-should-i-be-concerned/741788/6 "2015-12-31T03:50:04Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > Sorry, I’m not often literarily inclined that way 🙂 > > Anyone else care to take the baton and run with it? He seethes with resentment–how come _his_ house burned down and everything he owns was lost, and the rest of you are still sitting around all fat, dumb, and happy in your nice comfy homes?!? Sure, you all pitched in and helped out, but–human psychology being what it is–that somehow just made him even angrier. Those “Christmas cards” are laced with a cunningly-designed chemical mixture–he’s being working on it for months, driven by his mad desire for “revenge” against a cruel and uncaring society which couldn’t even be bothered to equip fire trucks with snowplow attachments–and in a few hours, each “Christmas card” will spontaneously erupt into flames, causing every house in town to burn down! Yes–he’ll show you–he’ll show you all! _MWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAH!_ ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-christmas-card-from-a-stranger-sent-to-my-home-address-should-i-be-concerned/741788/7 "2015-12-31T06:08:10Z")
> [@Missy2U](#): > > Uh, no. Unacceptable resolution! Way too normal! There’s no suspense - no intrigue! > We need something we can sink our teeth into! > Make something up! Pretty please? 😃 Yes, please! We don’t want to have another disappointing thread like [I watched someone dump a body in the woods](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=779610) ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-christmas-card-from-a-stranger-sent-to-my-home-address-should-i-be-concerned/741788/8 "2016-01-01T02:12:27Z")
The card was mailed from _within the house._ ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e47774/32.png) [@quiltguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-christmas-card-from-a-stranger-sent-to-my-home-address-should-i-be-concerned/741788/9 "2016-01-01T03:36:01Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > Have you ever received a Christmas card from someone, at your home address, and not had any clue whatsoever who the sender is? It has a photo of their lovely family on it, and it’s quite Jesus-y, and I can’t find anything that marks it as any kind of bulk advertising. Other than the fact that the senders are complete strangers, it’s a totally normal family Christmas card (if you’re as Jesus-y as they apparently are). > > The creepy part? I looked up the father’s name on Facebook (the photo matches the card), and he’s a Web developer…for my health insurer. Should I be concerned that he is mixing his home and work databases? Which is kind of a potentially huge health privacy issue? He’s performing “silent witnessing.” ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-christmas-card-from-a-stranger-sent-to-my-home-address-should-i-be-concerned/741788/10 "2016-01-01T04:30:14Z")
\*That \*family? But they all died in the big fire 150 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-christmas-card-from-a-stranger-sent-to-my-home-address-should-i-be-concerned/741788/11 "2016-01-01T04:43:13Z")
"Mrs Lampert, the stamps on that envelope are the Inverted Jenny, the Post Office Mauritius, the Penny Black, and the 12 Pence Black. I’d be happy to discuss the situation with you further at my office in the Embassy at… shall we say 1PM…?"