Funtalia (fun-tal-ya)

Thanks for reading (I really do appreciate it), but I was actually referring to all the people to whom I need to send thank you notes ASAP.  I still haven’t sent out thank you cards for Christmas or any event since.  I was tempted to say “Eh, too much time has passed.  Now it’s just going to look tacky,” but then I received two Christmas cards out of the blue yesterday from completely UNrelated parties (crazy coincidence, right?).  So I figured if both of these people were comfortable with sending out their season’s greetings in March, then I really shouldn’t be worried about being thankful only a few (okay several) weeks late.  Besides, I appreciated the senders’ thoughtfulness regardless of their timing.  (I only hope my thankees will feel the same way.)

Now I recently read an article suggesting planet preservation through sending out thank yous via email and scrapping the physical thank you card altogether.  Listen, I’m all for saving the earth, but I found this suggestion plain silly - don’t you agree?  Should we really cut out one of the few surviving formal acts of gratitude to save such small a piece of decorative cardstock?  Can’t we just outlaw junk mail instead?  (Of course, then I would probably encounter an empty mailbox more often than not and I wouldn’t want that…such a sad feeling.)  Going back to the virtual thank you though, please allow me to clarify that I, personally, do not mind receiving a thank you by email at all.  I was just raised by a woman who attended a private finishing school for girls (very hoidy toidy), so handwritten cards were the only acceptable way to go in my house.  Besides, the “World Wide Web” was just some computer nerd space term back then anyway.

Ultimately, because of my mom’s insistence (aka twice daily nagging until the note was written), I gained a testimony of thank you notes and much interest in the cute stationery industry.  I have yet to purchase any fancy personalized cards, but I’m really considering splurging on some cute ones soon.  You might want to do the same.  Since gratitude is always in fashion, go here, here, or here and say thank you in style.

Merci.  Grazie.  Danke.  Gracias.  Obrigada.