This post is kind of a confession of sorts . . . I’ve been remiss in sending thank you cards lately. Gasp. For the longest time I prided myself on being prompt and personal in sending real, snail mail, heart-felt thank you cards. I’d be writing them the night of my birthday, the morning after Christmas, the day after a party – it was a huge part of how I showed my thanks for the nice things people did for me. . . .
Then I had two kids, a house, a full-time blog and well, a long list of to dos and my thank you cards are being neglected, getting dusty and just waiting to make someone’s day. I’ll admit it, I’m even embarrassed sharing this! But I think it’s good accountability and as I mentioned in my recent post, Grateful for Redlights: The Power of Gratitude, I really am trying to be more grateful – or at least share my gratefulness more.
I know thank you cards are not the end-all-be-all to showing your gratefulness. There are lots of ways you can say thank you, but this is my favorite way. I love getting mail – real mail from real people. So I can only guess that others do to.
I need to send a thank you card to my Grandma for my birthday card, for my parents for their hospitality on our last trip to Alaska, for my sister who sent me an adorable picture frame, to my mother-in-law for being so gracious and generous with her time (and babysitting), and for my son’s teacher who is doing such a great job. I could think of a couple dozen people who I could say thank you to. What about you?
So today, I scheduled 30 minutes to write down my notes of thanks and put them in the mail. It’s not a lot, but it’s something. It felt so good and I know that the recipients on the receiving end will love getting something in the mail that is not a bill, not a solicitation to buy, but a genuine, heart-felt thanks. Like I said in my red light post, it might be a little early to be talking Thanksgiving – but it’s never to early to be thanks giving.
How do you say thanks? Do you like writing thank you cards? What about receiving them?
Next week I hope to do a post on how to make creative Thank You cards. . .I’d love your ideas!
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