Non American here - I do not understand the family photo Christmas cards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in uk and France and this is one American thing that just baffles me.. people sending photos of their family as a Christmas card. Am I the only one who finds this weird? Like - why do you think i want to display a photo of YOUR family? It feels like people have wildly misjudged how much other people care about their stuff. If a French or British person did this I think everyone would find it so awkward. Enlighten me Americans - what am I missing here?

Having lived in France it baffles me why the French believe they are the arbiters of all that is proper and superior. Why don't you enlighten us!

And yet they choose to move to America with our terrible customs? Why did you do this to yourself OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in uk and France and this is one American thing that just baffles me.. people sending photos of their family as a Christmas card. Am I the only one who finds this weird? Like - why do you think i want to display a photo of YOUR family? It feels like people have wildly misjudged how much other people care about their stuff. If a French or British person did this I think everyone would find it so awkward. Enlighten me Americans - what am I missing here?

I dunno, maybe a soul? The Christmas spirit? Warmth and friendship?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The US is large. We often don’t see friends and family for a year or even longer. It’s nice to see a picture or two of what the kids look like imo!

Are there many cards that show updates you can't get from social media?

Many sane people never splash their kids on SM. These pics are the only ones our family sees in between visits.

+1. We don't do social media or Christmas cards for our kids, but I don't think anyone who sends us cards also posts their kids on social media.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love displaying all the photos from friends and family! I have a special display holder for them. Everyone who visits during December stops to see the photos. I haven’t seen many of those people in years so the photos show babies I have yet to meet, teenagers with their braces, new pets and new spouses. I love all of it.

Why

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The US is large. We often don’t see friends and family for a year or even longer. It’s nice to see a picture or two of what the kids look like imo!

Are there many cards that show updates you can't get from social media?

Many sane people never splash their kids on SM. These pics are the only ones our family sees in between visits.

Yeah, we have no kids photos on social media, So the card is it.

I used to not like them because I love written messages. But now I'm fond of them. And when my parents come to visit they like seeing my old friends from high school and how their families are doing. It's also a way to keep extended family and long distance friends fresher in my kids' minds, since they aren't on social media at all.

My favorites are a card in one side and a message on the other, but some years I don't get to that.

[Anonymous]

This thread was started a year ago but OP is wrong. People in the UK definitely send Christmas cards with the family photo on it. The Royal family does it!

[Anonymous]

Asian immigrant family here, dems, non-christians and totally embraced the tradition. I love it. Every single card, with a family photo or without goes on my mantel. I send out my cards every year as well but not every year with a family photo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone does this all over the world

Actually, no they don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:American here. No, you are not the only one to find it weird. I find it weird, too. And a little look-at-me distasteful.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Even before I clicked I knew you must be French lol

I hate to say this but I agree. The French are not the barometer I use for kindness or friendliness.

Haha true.

As a rule, they are very closed and not open to new people.

A new German friend said she was shocked we took her all around DC for nine hours and bought her dinner. She said no Germans would do this for someone they did not know well.

[Anonymous]

I love getting photo cards! We live hundreds or thousands of miles from most of our extended family and childhood friends. We don't do social media, so never see pictures outside of the annual cards. And since we never post anything online, nobody sees our kids growing up either. Photo cards are a fun way to touch base with everyone once a year.

[Anonymous]

Our kids are grown and we update Facebook enough so that it would be nothing new for our friends. So, I don’t send. And, we take a quick glance at the picture and then throw. I don’t read the letter or any text sent. No time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in uk and France and this is one American thing that just baffles me.. people sending photos of their family as a Christmas card. Am I the only one who finds this weird? Like - why do you think i want to display a photo of YOUR family? It feels like people have wildly misjudged how much other people care about their stuff. If a French or British person did this I think everyone would find it so awkward. Enlighten me Americans - what am I missing here?

So there is no family that you would like a picture of? Your nieces or nephews? Cousins? You don't care about family?

You must be a lovely person. Btw there is no one demanding you "display" the card. I do hope in the future you get none.

Are you Scrooge?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kids are grown and we update Facebook enough so that it would be nothing new for our friends. So, I don’t send. And, we take a quick glance at the picture and then throw. I don’t read the letter or any text sent. No time.

I highly doubt you are that busy or important yhat you can't take five minutrs or less to read a card.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am American and find the family photo Christmas cards really distasteful. Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus, not your family. The cards are staged and depict life as perfect and feel like an extension of social media. We are already exposed to people's family photos regularly through social media. I also find cards to be insensitive as many people who are single, widowed, divorced, childless, estranged from their family and children, lonely and grieving recent losses find them to be hurtful and actually make Christmas more painful than it already is. If a single person sent out a photo Christmas card it would be seen as bizarre and self-absorbed (which it is). Please stop sending these cards. It is time for the tradition of the family photo Christmas card to end.

I hope you get your Christmas wish...everyone forgets you and ceases to wish you a merry Christmas. How dare they!