A Truly Grateful Heart

I believe in the power of the written word. Stationery and pens are my friends. I love them. I can sit and stare at a display of pens or papers for hours. There is nothing like the sense of accomplishment after penning a letter to someone you love. I believe in prompt thank you notes so that the giver knows the depth of your gratefulness. Wouldn't you know I am still behind on my October birthday thank yous? It kills me, but I have somehow not quite finished. My apologies to those I have not treated well. It really is not due to a lack of thankfulness! It is due to doing too many things at once and not finishing something well!

We recently celebrated a friend's birthday over dessert. DH and I were overwhelmed by the fine thank you note this gentleman sent us on Crane's paper. Yes, the friend was a male and yes, HE wrote a thank you note. He wrote it promptly. He wrote it well. Chivalry is not dead. We are so honored to call him our friend!

Thank you notes

We all know that it's important to write thank you notes because it allows the giver to know how much we appreciate their gift and thoughtfulness. We were so blessed this year with very thoughtful gifts from new frames with our pictures in them for our new house to new hot pink fancy pajamas for me to the gold charm DH gave me that was a house with our current address and city on it. My father carried a cross across the ocean from Spain and then painstakingly refinished the old tired wood to make it beautiful again. It is for my collection of crosses and was very thoughtful!!

Now it's time to let those we love know how appreciative we are for their gifts. Gifts are a sacrifice of time and money, and a written note is the least we can do. For some, an email will suffice, but I believe it should really be a note written on paper and delivered to the gift giver.

If you hate writing, then hit the sales today and buy yourself a really nice pen that you'll enjoy using, cute stamps, and some pretty stationary. You may even find the stationary on sale. My friend, F, who works for Country Living Magazine, once had an article on making a cute caddy or area with your stationary items so that everything is together. This makes the chore (if it is a chore to you) much easier.

After choosing your writing instrument and stationary, find a time NOW to write your notes. The sooner you write them, the better. When we put something off, it becomes more of a chore and it also becomes more and more difficult to find the time to sit down and do it. I confess that while I usually start off with a bang writing many notes immediately, I often leave some left to write weeks later. This has happened to me on more than one occasion now that my life is so full of little ones! However, we can all make up an excuse from a demanding job to children tugging at us, but the truth is, we need to just do it!!

I hope to begin my notes today, even though I am still writing thank you notes for our fabulous party. I just know I need to write as many thank yous as I can NOW because soon I will be knee-deep in boxes with no end in sight!!

Happy Writing!!!!