Gratitude in the Mail - Why I sent nearly a year's worth of thank you notes in a single package

I don't know about you, but I really love how I feel when I get a thank you note from someone. It's just the best. I also know that while I have really good intentions, sometimes I just drop the ball and don't send as many as I should, when I should. I can also be good at writing them and forgetting to get them in the mail because I was out of stamps or something silly like that. 

So who made the rules up about when you have to send thank you notes, anyway? I'd been thinking a lot about how many things my parents and in-laws had done for us over the past year. Coming into town to help with the kids so that I could attend a class, picking up something for us from the store, taking us to dinner, sending the kids little things in the mail, keeping our dog while we went on vacation. All these things I appreciate immensely, but never put a thank you into writing. And so, I made a list, and over the course of a few nights, we wrote thank you notes. 

The kids drew pictures and filled out fun little cards like "I like your..." cards. We included the new school pictures, and we made a couple little crafts to add in as well. (A Vikings logo out of Perler beads, my mother-in-law's favorite football team.) We talked about what it means to be thankful and how small acts of kindness really add up. After collecting the new cards and the ones I never mailed, we had a good stack of gratitude to send our family. It felt good to finally write the notes, and especially good that we did it all together, while remembering all the reasons we have to be thankful for the people in our lives.

I thought about sending each card, one at a time, but who knows when I'd get that many stamps again - so we packed them up in colorful bubble mailers, added some crinkle paper and sent them on their way! I did skip the confetti, but I may include it next time! I've lovingly decided to call this a Grati-gram! A heartfelt package of thanks to let someone know you appreciate them. 

My oldest son drew a picture on nearly every note he wrote. I love that he likes to do this, I think it's a wonderfully personal way to say thank you.

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For lack of better timing, I was actually at my parents house when they received their package. My mom sat down to open it with me right there and I almost wanted her to wait, but I am so glad I didn't. Watching her laugh and read each note, sharing them with my dad was one of the best things. I got to see, first hand, how happy this made them, and it was amazing. She teased me for feeling like I needed to thank them for nearly every. little. thing. And laughing about notes for gifts that had been given nearly an entire year ago and for keeping the dog at the beginning of the summer!! 

I think sometimes we just need to make up new rules when we see a need. I may have missed the ideal 3-day window, but this impact was so much more. I'll still try better this year to send my thank you notes in a reasonable amount of time, but I like knowing that there's more than one good way to do something great and many ways to have an attitude of gratitude.