For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for January 02, 2018

Writing thank you notes is such a forgotten pastime now. When I was younger, my Mom insisted that I write thank you notes and be grateful for whatever I got for Christmas. Nowadays, I’ve seen how spoiled kids have gotten and it’s sad. They get everything from expensive electronics, money that’s hidden inside gift cards, and even stockings stuffed with small toys; but they seem so ungrateful now. It’s a shame parents don’t enforce this anymore. I will enforce this rule again when I have kids.

you’re a swell grandson, Mike

Looks like we’re back to double replies today

Looks like we’re back to double replies today

Kinda telling that Ellie tells him to write a thank-you note—which is fair enough—but doesn’t write one herself.

C’mon, Mike, you’re a writer!

I’ve given up on the generation behind me. Last Winter I made four beautiful birds-eye maple letter boxes for my nephews and nieces….nice quality boxes finished with Danish oil. I gave them to my brother and he gave them to his children and sent me pictures of them receiving the boxes. They were ALL smiles…..but not a single Thank You was received……not a card, not an e-mail, not a phone call. Never again!

I have never written a thank-you note. Everybody who knows me knows I do not like receiving gifts (it upsets my view of the world, just as receiving a threatening letter would). They also know I have no awareness of colors… if somebody asks me what color the car was that blocked the intersection I can only guess, and everybody knows that We are all unique.

Sending ‘thank you’ notes is not the only ‘courtesy’ that has both neglected and lost from what used to be called ‘good manners.’ And we are the lesser for those losses.

Young people aren’t taught to write thank you notes, anymore. If you are lucky, you’ll receive some sort of gift recognition on social media but don’t hold your breath. Even a phone call or text message it beyond most of the young ingrates responsibilities.

Yes, the parents are to blame, but so are the grandparents. We have become a greedy, needy, me-first society who prefer instant gratification to politeness and gratitude.

We lived near a lady who sold cakes, and sometimes she would gift them to people. I got one on my eighth birthday. People marveled about how huge and elaborate the cake was. However, I did not show much enthuisasm nor send her a thank you note. She never made another cake for me.

Since Michael was around his father’s mother this Christmas, I am going to guess this must by Elly’s mother who sent the underwear gift.

I’m sure Michael would be even more thankful for the underwear if it’s of the long-john variety and the temps outside are hovering below zero C.

Thermal underwear sure helps me now that it is below freezing at night here in Houston. Been a long time since it got that cold.

Lynn’s Notes:

My parents insisted we thank (in writing) everyone who sent us a gift. At the time, we thought it was a miserable waste of our time. Now, I know it was an investment in the relationship between myself and the kind person who had been thoughtful enough to send a gift.

And he’s a writer now.

I made my kids send thank you notes, even told them what to write in it (very short). It got done. In fact, one of their Christmas stocking gifts, was a pack of thank you cards. They may have hated them, and they may have never, ever written one since they have left this house, but at least the gift givers (mostly old school generation) knew they weren’t raised by wolves.

So they wrote a thank-you note for the thank-you notes…