We got done writing all our Thank You notes from Christmas last Saturday, unless I’ve forgotten someone. This year, I had the Kiddos do some of their own.
Kiddo#3 insisted I should draw a picture of his stuffed owl on the TY note which mentioned that gift.
Halfway through writing, I looked up and dictated to my Patient Husband a TY note for the things he had given to me, making it sound a little more stilted than it would if I were actually writing it. “Dear Patient Husband, Thank you so much for all the Christmas gifts. I felt very appreciated. I especially loved the sock yarn made with the tencel fiber. I’ve never knitted with that before. I’ve already gorged myself senseless on the chocolates — ” He cut me off with, “That’s quite enough, thank you. You’re very silly.”
But the silliest part was when Kiddo#1 was writing his. He’s not really sure what goes into a TY note even though we’ve done this very often. So my Patient Husband quipped, “Thank you for the book. Then you look through the book and come up with some adjectives to say about it.”
Kiddo#1 said, “Complimentary adjectives.”
And I started to laugh. “Thank you for the book. It was blue.”
From there, we were kind of a lost cause. “Thank you for the book. It is two-hundred and seventy two pages long. It was also written by a guy named Jake.”
My Patient Husband said, “Yeah. Maybe not so much that.”
This is nothing new. Way back when I was in college, my stepmom’s parents sent me some money for my birthday. And, being a wiseacre, I sent them this:
Dear Mr & Mrs Lastname:
Thank you for the money for my birthday. I bought beer.
Which was all the funnier because I was 18 and they knew darn well I didn’t drink beer. Apparently they thought it was funny, but they already knew I was whacked. The note only confirmed it.
TYs are written. And for reading my weblog, I thank you too.
kiddo is still at the age where i cheat… give her crayons, let her draw whatever may or may not end up being related to the gift or the person (and sometimes its hard to tell anyway), then have her write thank you on it somewhere.
maybe not the best for developing her skills… but nice shortcut.
On the contrary, I don’t think that’s cheating at all! She’s learning that gifts require a thank you, and you’re making it fun for her. That’s awesome! 🙂
We add something about how it improves our life, or how we use it. Something personal. “It will help me in calculus class.” “Now I won’t lose my mitts any more.” “It’s my favourite colour.” “It reminds me of the great time we had together this summer.”
“It will look pretty next to other thing you gave me last year that I also never use,” might not pass.