Thank you

My parents always told me that if I got a gift I needed to write a thank you.  It was ingrained into me from the time I could write.  It has always been a part of birthdays or Christmas and I have always had thank you cards in my desk.

I have tried to instill this into MAC.  It started with fill-in post cards when she was young and has progressed to hand drawn pictures this year.  She has resented the fact that I always give her a "deadline" to get them done in, but I would like her to get them done in a reasonable amount of time ( a month or less).  This year has been a little difficult.  Because we were away for Christmas I told her she could wait until we got home.  I asked her to do them over her holiday break, she didn't.  The Sunday before school started I did get her to write 2 to her Grandmother, and her Grandparents in Virginia.  The next week she did another two and I finally gave her an ultimatum of finishing them all or I would be returning gifts.  They were all finished by last weekend.

It feels as if, although Hallmark has several different sets, thank you notes are out of style.  Truthfully it does seem as if the "written word" is out of style.  One of her teachers told me that they really don't teach cursive anymore because the kids won't be writing any of their papers.  I think it is sad because cursive becomes so individualized and can tell so much about a person. 

Believe me, if you send me a gift you will recieve a handwritten thank you note.  If you send a gift to MAC you'll also get a thank you, these days usually on one of her hand drawn pictures!