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Tuesday, December 8, 2009

When Saying Thank You is Scary

I have a terrible confession to make.

I suck at writing thank you notes. I am almost so bad at it, that sometimes just as someone is handing me a present, I am already sweating about what I will say in the Thank You note.

Because here is the thing. I have never just been a "Thanks for the gift!" kind of girl. When I write my card, I want to tell a story and make sure that person knows how very much I love that gift and how it ties into some history I may also have with that person.

For example. Best Friend gives me a book - The Giving Tree for my 2 year old.



Normal thank you note:

Dear Best Friend, Thank you so much for the great book. It was always one of my favorites. Shaila will love it!

That seems nice, right?

But that would not suffice for me. This is the kind of card I write:

Dear Best Friend,

Thank you for the wonderful book, the Giving Tree. This is a gift that will truly keep on giving because it will inculcate a value system into my child which will hopefully provide her a solid model for integrity. It will also raise her environmental awareness. In this day and age, this is a very socially responsible gift. Best Friend, do you remember that tree that we used to climb when were in the 3rd grade and how that time you fell and skinned your knee really bad. They don't make trees like that any more. Granted, most of the trees we used to climb have been chopped down. Thank God for Earth Day. I miss you and those days.

P.S. Let's plant a tree.

See?

I just can't relax and write some half-ass thank you note.

So sometimes the notes wait, while I wait for the inspiration to hit me. Meanwhile John will look over and say "Hey did we ever get those notes out?"

Hmmm. There is no "we" in "Kiran" - let us be clear, husband.

So to all my friends to whom I am delinquent on sending thank you notes, please know that I LOVE LOVE LOVE your gifts.

I just have writer's block.

Love,
Kiran

9 comments:

SurferWife said...

Forget all that. Come get your award from my blog!

Masala Chica said...

ooh - ooh. I am coming over right away in my best red carpet dress. (aka my pajamas)

The Only Girl said...

I'm with you on the Thank You cards. Can't someone just publish a book with a bunch of good ideas that we can copy? Or maybe a blog. You enter the gift and the occasion and out pops a little message! I'm so brilliant!

Congrats on your Surferwife award by the way!

SurferWife said...

Alright TOG. You need to copyright that idea, pronto, so we can all retire in the Bahamas. Thanks.

Sarah at The Stroller Ballet said...

I am absolutely the same way with thank you cards! It's so hard to just write "thank you" and a short note and leave it there. I always want to go into more detail.
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I am following you now, too!

Sara said...

I have to say I love cards and thank you cards are like this disgusting excuse for me to buy more cards.

It's actually a sickness, so perhaps you're a lot healthier than I am.

Anna Whiston-Donaldson said...

It bugs me so darn much when my husband ask if "we" have done something. Ugh.

P.S. I am queen of the half-assed anything.

Larissa said...

Kiran- I LOVE all the references about John in your posts bc you could be talking about my husband. Post baby, when I had about 1 million thank you notes to write, Chris would always ask me "Did we thank my mom yet?" Now why does he say "we"? Is it to make him feel lesss culpable for not helping me as my hand cramped into a permanently fist? Or is it to infer that he is somehow mentally supporting my thank yous? Strange indeed.

Masala Chica said...

Larissa,

Hey girl! Congratulations on mommyhood!

Ok - so here are some other places the "we" comes into play:

1) Have "we" taken the picture for the christmas card yet?

2) Follow up to 1) - Hey where is that shutterfly order with our christmas cards? When did "we" put the order in?

3) And the always, always annoying:
What are "we" making for dinner?

Oh man - I just realized this is a whole other post!

 

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