Thanksgiving in January...

      I don't think it would be going out on a limb to say that personal handwritten thank you notes are becoming a "lost art" these days, and that makes me sad.  I remember as a child being instructed to always send a thank you for any appropriate occasion including birthdays and Christmas.  I'm sure I rolled my eyes and thought it was stupid sometimes, especially the older I got.  However, I realize that it instilled in my heart a spirit of gratefulness that I want to pass on to my kids.  Some say it could become routine, or mundane, but        I believe it forces me to stop and think about what I received and the person who blessed me with that something.
     Now that I am older and more often a giver, I realize how much I enjoy receiving a thank you note too.   I don't expect it and don't want to give for that reason, but it is nice to be thought of "back" in a way.  I have given to many birthdays, graduations, and even weddings that have gone without acknowledgement or gratitude and that is ok, but sad.  I believe each generation is being raised with a higher level of "entitlement" and I hate to see that too.
     So....my boys will write hand written thank you notes for a long time and so far they haven't rolled their eyes at me once.  They don't know that "all kids" don't have to do this, I'm sure:) I have them make a list in their homeschool planner in the notes section and I actually will put one a day on their weekly schedule page.  I'm sure I will love having these lists as well as memories of the year they got  _____! If they have handwriting, I even let them have the day off, which they get excited about.  Lately as you can see in the picture above, they have been getting very creative with their notes and I am enjoying seeing them really trying to hard to make them special for that special someone!