There is something about New Year’s that makes me thankful. I think it’s that I always wrote my Christmas thank you notes about now. Do you write thank you notes?
My mom always insisted on thank you notes and as I child I hated them. But something funny happened in my late twenties…I started to really like getting thank you notes. So, thank you to my sister in law who made me appreciate thank you notes by making me feel more like family though hers – it was nice to know my thought was appreciated but also that I was moving into a family that valued gratitude in a way I did as well. The point of giving is not to be thanked of course, but it is so nice when you feel genuine appreciation.
In October I worked on a fundraiser for our church. I put in a good many hours before hand and engaged about 10 parishioners to provide tapas dishes to share. After the event I wrote about 10 thank you notes to those chefs – it seemed like a small gesture but one to show my appreciation and that of the fundraiser committee. Nearly every one of those ladies thanked me deeply for the thank you note. They were amazed that a mother of two small children would take the time for such a thing. Let me tell you it took just a few minutes compared to what I had spent on the rest of the event but that was a tangible item that stood out. I think it stood out that I was so thankful I would take two minutes to jot a note – and it emphasized how the Thank You note is dying. And why I need to keep up the tradition.
I hope you take some time in 2012 to write thank you notes. I have no resolutions this year. With Gabriel turning one in a couple months and Dante turning three on the heels of that I pray to just make it through to 2013 having clean underwear everyday and serving something that can pass as dinner each night.
With thank you notes on my mind, and no resolutions to throw into 2012, I thought I would share my thank you note for 2011.
Thank you for 12 eventful and fulfilling months. Though I found it emotionally tough to get through the last months of pregnancy, you helped by throwing so much into January, February and March I barely had time to feel the brute weight of my belly or worry about how brotherhood wold grow in our household. Thank you for a safe and healthy delivery of my baby angel Gabriel and the most amazing meeting between brothers I could have hoped for. Thank you for a beautiful 14 weeks of time off with my family where I grew closer to both my sons and my husband. Thank you for the opportunity of a promotion at work, thereby ensuring the last months of the year were as full as the first. Thank you for allowing me to make into habit for me and my family eating whole food, using safe and non-toxic cleaners and body products and emphasizing experiences and faith over material goods (the core of my granola mom mentality…). Thank you for showing a light at the end of our financial tunnel (though you will share that with 2012 – I hope!). Thank you for all those large and small events building year over year that have brought me to where I am today.
It is so easy to be negative or worry or just not be deeply thankful for the gestures of other people, God and the universe. I feel worry and I complain though I try to keep that out of Tan/Green…who reads the work of a whiny blogger? I use this space to share my best attempts and goals and hope that may even influence a reader-friend or two. So if you have a few minutes make sure to send a thank you note or two (handwritten is the best, maybe start with your mom…) And maybe even take time (really for your own benefit) to thank 2011 for what it did for you – and share it here if you like!
Happy New Year! Here’s to 2012!
