With only two months left until Christmas (being reminded of this fact by St. M as he rolled over first thing this morning), I started thinking about greeting cards before meditating once again on gratefulness.

Since I could write my own name, I’ve traditionally sent a greeting card, note, letter, or such each year to family and friends, sharing the year’s highlights, JOYs, sorrow, newsy tidbits, and best wishes along with hope, good will, love, and blessings for the coming year.  With close friends, I send cards or notes “just because” throughout the year, especially because all of us can use a surprising boost now and then.  A couple of us exchange funny, sarcastic cards in hopes of garnering the biggest laugh (then the real competition is on).  Even as a classroom teacher, my students and I wrote individuals letters each week to mail to family, friends, legislators, and more to not only practice letter writing, but work together in keeping alive a dying art form (yes, I paid the postage).  Several of my students still correspond with me even 36 years later!  One precious church friend sends a card that arrives every Wednesday in the mailbox (68 straight weeks now); this is dedicated tending, y’all! (Thank, CK!)

I know; I know…social media, texting, and emails should suffice and have become acceptable norms; I’m guilty of this too. My mother and both grandmothers are most likely rolling over in their eternal resting places just thinking about “social media” as an acceptable form of anything, especially in place of “the luxury of a handwritten note or letter to someone you love, respect, and admire…”  ~Granny B and Brenda B Folsom~                                 The southern steel magnolias in my family were correct:  “a handwritten treasure is a gift in itself.”  I’m not just talking about writing those important thank-you notes either.  Precious time and written thoughts eloquently shared from the heart helps to make new friends, tend to old friends, and simply sends a jolt of JOY into another person’s world.  The mailbox is depressingly full of bills, ads, political endorsements, and more; spying a handwritten card or letter is the FIRST thing to tear open and savor when found! What a quick way to turn a frown upside down!

So here’s a grateful challenge to us on Day #11:

Who will you choose to gratefully share a handwritten card, note, or letter with during the next week?  

Here’s hoping the mailbox you choose to overflow with love fills yours in kind!