Dear ______, Thank you for the ______.

My mom was one of those mean mothers who was a stickler for thank you notes. After every Christmas and birthday, I remember sitting at the table having the importance of thank you notes drilled in to me and being made to write them. Like every child of a mean thank-you-note-writing-mom, I'm sure I complained. I'm sure I procrastinated. I'm sure many of my notes were hastily written, so I could run off to play. Looking back, I can honestly say, "Mom, thank you for sticking with it." Now, as an adult, the importance of a hand-written thank you note is understood, and I appreciate them that much more. There is no better way to show your gratitude. I'm trying my best to follow in my mom's footsteps as a mean thank-you-note-enforcer. I don't always succeed. Occassionally notes go out really late, through email, or (dropping my head in shame) not at all. Despite misses here and there, I want my children to grow up with the same foundation. To that end, we spent this morning at the kitchen table writing Christmas thank you notes.  If you've never made your five year old dictate a thank you note for you to write, you are missing out. Here are two from this morning.

Dear JoJo and Bubba,

Thank you for the P book. It will let me learn how to read because of letters. I like the letter R because it is my favorite letter in the whole state. I hope you can walk better soon.

Love, Addison

Dear Aunt L,

Thank you for the Wizard of Alls movie. I like it so much. I was wishing for it so much. How did you know that? I like the Wizard of Alls because I was wishing for it. My favorite is all of the sparkling shoes. The part of the movie I like is when the house got on one of the witches. Happy New Year!

Love, Addison

How sad would it be if I deprived the gift givers of notes like those.  My hope for my children is that one day they will appreciate the dying art of thank you note writing and continue the habit as adults. When I am a grandmother, I hope to get notes from my grandchildren about their favorite letter in the state and favorite part of the Wizard of Alls!

Comments

[Marie]

Oh that is too precious! My mom was a mean thank you enforcer too. Good for you for keeping up the tradition!

[Carey]

Same here - mean thank you enforcer Mom too. And I still haven't sat us down to do our thank you notes yet. It is niggling in my mind at this very moment...