Always over-informative, often overwrought and occasionally offensive, the Christmas round robin is a modern curse. Under the guise of retaining friendship, the desire to boast, beleaguer and bore runs amok, creating unintentional hilarity. Naturally our own missives are a wry, tongue-in-cheek, post-modernist, self-aware, witty-but-wise take on a life well-lived. We project ourselves and what we want our lives to be. Happy delusion! The dark secret of the round robin is that it reveals more about us than we ever wanted to show.

Correspondents you may recognise in this collection include:
- The overachievers
- The doting new parents
- The gap-year schoolboy
- God:

Dear All,

Well, another mixed year, some of it good (my fault) and some of it bad (not). Rather more war than I planned...