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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not like we’re framing them and hanging them on our walls. They are cards to send greetings - some include photos. I have friends and family all over the world so I enjoy seeing the kids especially, kids I see once every few years at best. I’m an immigrant so we did not have this tradition but it’s not hard to grasp.

+1. This seems like an odd way to trash another facet of American culture. Some of these people need to get over themselves.

[Anonymous]

I love photo cards. I actually also love the cheesy letter that some folks send along with the card- we don’t do that but I do love reading them.

We hang them from ribbon in our foyer. My kids love reading them and asking me about the people they don’t recognize.

I don’t think it’s entitled or rude to send. What a horrible outlook and way to approach something nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my dear friends is French, lives in France, and has been sending out family photo cards for years.

I find the comments asking “why would I want to see a photo of your family” perplexing. Don’t you people like your friends? I love seeing photos of my friends and their families. Because I love my friends.

That’s what social media is for. Sending someone a physical photo is not necessary in 2022/23

Not everyone feels the need to blast their family all over the internet. If you think a card sent is presumptuous, but don’t see the self-aggrandizing aspect of most social media, that is hilarious!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's pretty weird too.
The only baby that should be on a Christmas card is the baby Jesus and I'm not even religious.
Since when did your baby supplant the concept of Christmas?

You must have missed the thread last month about how horrible anything religious is on Christmas cards. People can’t win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One of my dear friends is French, lives in France, and has been sending out family photo cards for years.

I find the comments asking “why would I want to see a photo of your family” perplexing. Don’t you people like your friends? I love seeing photos of my friends and their families. Because I love my friends.

That’s what social media is for. Sending someone a physical photo is not necessary in 2022/23

Not everyone feels the need to blast their family all over the internet. If you think a card sent is presumptuous, but don’t see the self-aggrandizing aspect of most social media, that is hilarious!

If you post photo to Instagram and Instagram is just friends - how different from card?
We do send cards but I don’t see as materially different from social media

[Anonymous]

Do you even live here?

[Anonymous]

This is so funny because I was just looking at a “Christmas Cards from Royal Families Throughout the World” listicle. We had:

Monaco
The United Kingdom
The Netherlands (Christmas cards are extremely popular there)
Spain
Belgium
Luxembourg
Norway

All family photos. So maybe you’re just the weird one, OP?

[Anonymous]

Nothing says “maladjusted ex-pat” like the bitterness in the OP over something that is supposed to be nice. Some people weren’t meant to live outside of their country of origin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing says “maladjusted ex-pat” like the bitterness in the OP over something that is supposed to be nice. Some people weren’t meant to live outside of their country of origin.

This. Some people revel in being joyless and I will never understand it.

[Anonymous]

I don't display any photo cards, but I do like getting them so I can see what family members looks like now, especially the ones not on social media.

[Anonymous]

I’m envisioning a disillusioned OP returning to her home country. Then the next Christmas rolls around, and OP opens her mailbox to find it stuffed full of photo cards from her European friends. Horror movie music plays in the background…

[Anonymous]

I like it when the kids are in school because they change so much. But, OP, I swear I saw that William and Kate did one.

[Anonymous]

I prefer the photos to a regular card. I guess maybe it's a bit weird to get a family picture from the family I just sat with through 5 million tennis matches, but I assume most people who make them are thinking of far-flung friends and family when they put the cards together. And it's a nice excuse to get a proper photo of your family. We do a lot of casual snapshots throughout the year but try to get at least one semi professional one if we are going to send out a card.

[Anonymous]

I’m not American and also find it a bit weird, mainly because I receive dozens of photo cards from people I barely know. My impression is that people buy some special online deal that gives them 100-200 cards and then they have to come up with a long list of people to send them to.

I’m happy to get photo cards from close friends who live far away but a card from someone I barely know or people who I see all the time just goes straight in the trash. There’s not even a personal message. I’d much rather get a card where someone has made the effort to write something.

[Anonymous]

I love photo cards. I display them through the season and then put them in a flip book