While the art of writing a thank you note has mostly gone out of style, in our family taking the time to show gratitude for all the wonderful gifts they received for Christmas is not only in good taste, but is also a practical learning and character building lesson!
It reminds our children that someone took time, effort, and money to choose a special gift just for them and now they should take time and effort to show how grateful they are in return! Even though we take a short break from formal schooling for Christmas, learning happens every minute of the day. So before we plunge back into our normal routine, we take time to focus on writing thank you notes to teach a practical skill that, I believe, every adult (and child) should have in their arsenal of good manners and habits.
Thank you notes also incorporate the use of handwriting skills, phonics and spelling, using formal greetings and salutations, grammar, punctuation, the art of addressing an envelope, and many more skills that could be taught from a worksheet, but are much more easily taught in this practical form.
Thank you notes in our home greatly change from year to year based on the age of our children and their current skill levels. When my first little guy was 2, I simply had him color and paint on a small piece of cardstock and I wrote the note on top of his masterpiece. As my littles have gotten older I've had them draw a picture of what they were thankful for, had them trace notes that I've "dotted" out, had them fill in the blanks with the item they received and their name, to now writing the note completely themselves.
If you are wanting some thank you notes that your kids can work on today, here are some links to some cute cards you can easily print off, fill out and get in the mail!
While participating in new and unknown activities throughout the year can be fun, there is nothing like a family tradition to bring joy, happiness, and memories into the lives of our loved ones. Not only is it fun to see our children remember these special times from the past, but it's such a blessing to hear their little voices share the wonderment with younger siblings who have yet to participate in the experience!
One of our family's most loved traditions started about 5 years ago. I don't even know how it officially began, but it was a mix of our family's interest in the reaching out to the "urban outdoors-man" and our love of helping and serving others. For a long time, we had talked about the best way to help homeless people we saw out on the street and allow our children, at a young age, to help others, and to give in a way that didn't enable the homeless to use our gift on negative influences in their lives.
And through this discussion Blessing Bags were born!
They have changed and grown over the years. Some years many family members have participated in purchasing, assembling and distributing the bags, other years it has only been our immediate family, while other times family has sent money or items to stock the bags. Some years the bags were the size of a gallon ziptop bag, sometimes a huge laundry bag, and sometimes somewhere in between. The beauty of the bag is that it is the heart of giving that determines what the bags look like each year!
After 24+ days of hectic Christmas preparation, filled with shopping, sewing, baking, and cleaning, our attention is brought back to our amazing Savior and the awesome gift He came to give! It pulls us away from the distractions and the secular things, and focuses us on spreading His love to those who need Him most. It is also a wonderful time for our children to step away from the toys and goodies they've received that day and see how truly blessed they are....there's nothing like the realization that these special people are living on the street to make their "needs" turn into wants and even over abundance!
The fun begins with a shopping trip!! Most of what we need can be found at Dollar Tree (man I like that store! ;). We start off by picking the bag we want to fill and deciding on how many we want to fill that year. This year we decided on 12 bags. I recommend packing bags in multiples of 6, 12, 18, etc., because most things at Dollar Tree come in multiples of 3 and 4's making it easy to pack bags without leftovers. Once we have the bag, we purchase things that will fit inside them. Here is our list from this year:
Christmas card and candy cane
Bible/Christian literature
Gloves
Socks
Hand warmers
3 in 1 shampoo, conditioner, body wash
Deodorant
Shaving cream
Razor
Lotion
Toothpaste
Toothbrush and holder
Comb
Band aids
Q-tips
Wet wipes
Washrag
Travel mug
Hot chocolate packets
Instant coffee packages(1 cup size)
Lemonade packages(1 bottle size)
A water bottle
Hard candy
Gum
Raisins
Granola bars
Crackers and chicken salad
Honey bun
Cookies
Popcorn
Food in a cup
Mac and Cheese
Oatmeal
Noodles
The Kiddos assembling the bags!
The wonderful part about the bags is that they can be given out any time of the year as well. Our goal is not just to teach our children about giving God's love at Christmas time, but through the entire year, throughout their entire life! We make smaller versions of these bags in 2 gallon ziplock bags that we keep in our car all the time. Anytime we run into someone holding a sign on the side of the road that needs help, we have a real, tangible expression of God's free gift that our kiddos can hand out the window with a "God bless you!" to close the deal!
Family traditions are a wonderful way to instill great memories into the lives of our children, but most importantly they are a fantastic way of instilling the love of God into their hearts. Make sure that during this busy season, you are focusing on what is important, what will last.....Jesus, the TRUE Reason for this Season(and every season)!
Thanks for stopping by! Come follow our journey as we follow God's guiding, live by our convictions, and grow into the family that God wants us to be while trying to be good stewards of what God has blessed us with!
The cleaning & scrubbing can wait till tomorrow, But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow. So quiet down cobwebs; dust go to sleep! I'm rocking my babies and babies don't keep. ~Ruth Hulburt Hamilton
It reminds our children that someone took time, effort, and money to choose a special gift just for them and now they should take time and effort to show how grateful they are in return! Even though we take a short break from formal schooling for Christmas, learning happens every minute of the day. So before we plunge back into our normal routine, we take time to focus on writing thank you notes to teach a practical skill that, I believe, every adult (and child) should have in their arsenal of good manners and habits.
Thank you notes also incorporate the use of handwriting skills, phonics and spelling, using formal greetings and salutations, grammar, punctuation, the art of addressing an envelope, and many more skills that could be taught from a worksheet, but are much more easily taught in this practical form. 
Thank you notes in our home greatly change from year to year based on the age of our children and their current skill levels. When my first little guy was 2, I simply had him color and paint on a small piece of cardstock and I wrote the note on top of his masterpiece. As my littles have gotten older I've had them draw a picture of what they were thankful for, had them trace notes that I've "dotted" out, had them fill in the blanks with the item they received and their name, to now writing the note completely themselves.
Do you think writing thank you notes is an important and thoughtful skill for kids to learn?
