A round-robin letter or Christmas letter is a letter, typically included with a
Christmas card
A Christmas card is a greeting card sent as part of the traditional celebration of Christmas in order to convey between people a range of sentiments related to Christmastide and the holiday season. Christmas cards are usually exchanged during ...
and sent to multiple recipients at the end of the year, in which the writer describes the year's events for themselves and/or their family.
The round-robin letter has been the subject of much ridicule, particularly from the ''
Guardian'' journalist
Simon Hoggart
Simon David Hoggart (26 May 1946 – 5 January 2014) was an English journalist and broadcaster. He wrote on politics for ''The Guardian'', and on wine for ''The Spectator''. Until 2006 he presented '' The News Quiz'' on BBC Radio 4. His journal ...
, who pilloried examples of the genre in his newspaper column, as well as writing the book ''The Hamster That Loved Puccini: The Seven Modern Sins of Christmas Round-robin Letters''. One example Hoggart cited read:
Critics have drawn attention to a number of typical negative characteristics of the letters, including the airbrushing of bad news, the "excruciating" level of banal detail, and the implied egocentricity and boastfulness of the sender.
References
{{Christmas
Christmas traditions
Letters (message)
Biographical works
Group processes