I could be the last person on the planet who gets excited by the prospect of mail. Like real honest-to-god mail in the mailbox mail. Not bills (of course), or email, or the stupid fliers from the grocery store, but something that someone has taken the time to write and put in an envelope and send to me.

I adore getting holiday cards. Religious, funny, ugly, whatever, I love getting them. And the holidays are pretty much the only time that it happens. The occasional thank you note will arrive, but certainly not regularly.

Which is another topic, whatever happened to the thank you note? From the age of about 4 it was drilled into my head that you should write one for just about everything. I guess people just aren’t that into them anymore. It might be the mid-westerner in me, but I just think that nothing can replace a nice handwritten thank you. It takes about a minute out of your day and is truly gracious. An email just doesn’t show the same level of thoughtfulness, in my opinion. Wow, I just realized how Ms. Manners that sounded, so I just spit on the sidewalk and pushed an old lady. Equilibrium restored.

And as long as I’m headed down this road, what is it with people sending out Holiday cards with absolutely NO PERSONAL TOUCH? I mean, if you can’t even bother to actually SIGN a card to me, or write just a quick little sentence to personalize it, please don’t bother. I don’t really need to be part of your envelope stuffing campaign. Wow! From Ms. Manners to crotchety old lady, all in one post.

Circling back around, outside of the thank you note I’ve never been much of a note writer. I’ve decided that perhaps the key to RECEIVING mail is to send it. So I’m making a conscious effort to be one of those people who remembers birthdays, special occasions, or just because, with a card or a note. I’m not going to single handily turn around the woes of the post office, but I’m planning  on doing my part. And honestly, with all the cute stationary and notecards out there, I don’t think it should be a problem. I’ve ordered some really cute notecards, and some personalized correspondence cards.

My pretty new notecards!

Now to fill up some mail boxes!