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?

Also weird the French in general and the royal family does send out picture cards

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?

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?

Anonymous wrote:When I was growing up, Christmas cards had pictures and decorations on them - either secular winter theme, or something religious. And then often inside, there would be "the Christmas letter" with either a picture of the whole family (usually taken at Sears) or else school pictures of just the kids. The Christmas letter would sum up all the major events of the year (In January, Bob got promoted to regional manager. In February, Margie joined the pom pom squad!) It was either braggy or humorous.

At some point - in the 80s? - the technology to turn your family photo into a card became cheap enough that more and more people started doing that instead. At first you could just choose a few customizations. Later, you could design your own card pretty cheaply. But they were still cards, not postcards, and usually people included a Christmas letter. And it was just ONE photo, of the whole family.

Then people started designing their own cards, and often would include more pictures - like 4-6 photos. And often it is just a postcard now; no annual letter anymore.

I don't think the current cards are very attractive and they don't make a nice display like the old ones did. And I keep up with my friends pretty well anyhow through social media.

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.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I do like displaying pictures of my friends and family around the holidays. It's a visible way of remembering the people that are important to us but aren't there with us.

This! I’m also not from the US, but I love this tradition. I love getting photo cards in the mail and enjoy looking at the pictures.

Anonymous wrote:I do like displaying pictures of my friends and family around the holidays. It's a visible way of remembering the people that are important to us but aren't there with us.

Anonymous wrote: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 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.

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?

Anonymous wrote: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 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?