Thank you letters

I'm a big fan of the ailing art of letter writing. I'm no luddite, but I do think it's sad that as short a time ago as when I was at Uni letter writing was still the way that my friends, family and I kept in touch. I still have some of those letters and postcards, which is more than I can say for the emails, text messages and Facebook posts that have come to replace them (even though there are some people I wouldn't have managed to keep in touch with if it wasn't for these new media, admittedly). One letter writing habit I was brought up with, and intend to pass on to my children, is that of thank you letters. I know that most people nowadays see a phone call or text as an acceptable way to acknowledge a gift, but I just feel that it's so nice to get something dropping through the door that doesn't have a window and a demand for payment inside. Having said that, until my two babies are old enough to write for themselves, this commitment can mean a lot of work around birthdays and Christmas! P's birthday was just ten days before his sister's arrival so for various reasons I found myself still needing to get 'Thank Yous' out by the time she was settling in at home. So the requirement was- inexpensive cards with a personal touch, requiring minimal effort from a tired mummy. The solution was: find a black and white picture of a bicycle (for my wheel-loving boy)on the internet, write a standard 'thank you' message for the back, print multiple copies and get P to colour the pictures in his own unique style. On future occasions I promise to get a bit more fancy but for now, these will hopefully be more welcome than another bill through the door...