Thankfulness Project

A Daily Project for Kids {and adults}
For the month of November

One thing in life that brings a smile to my face is an unexpected letter from a friend.  By letter, I mean a real pen-and-paper snail-mail letter.  Opening the mailbox and getting a personal letter can totally make my day {or week!}.

There is something about words written on paper by hand that carries so much meaning.  My ‘motivation’ {read, makes me happy} board in my office is mostly covered with letters from friends and family.  Sweet notes that I know were sent to me, only me, with love.  I know the sender took time out of their busy day to sit down and write me the letter.  Whether it was a special birthday greeting, or a ‘saw this and thought of you’ note, or a funny story to share, each letter is special to me.

Little forms of encouragement sent through the mail. 

Growing up my Mom would make me sit down and write personal thank you notes to every person who had given me a gift for Christmas or my birthday.  I hated it, I really did. 

But today, I appreciate the gift of a hand written letter. 

A good friend of mine is a big proponent for writing letters.  Real letters using a pen and pretty stationary.  She doesn’t just write generic ‘thank you’ notes or simple ‘how are you doing’ cards {although, those are important too!}, she pours herself into the letters she writes.  She is a very busy gal, so when I get a letter from her, I know she deliberately took time out of her day to sit down and write me a {top to bottom, front to back card} letter.

This same friend shared this TED talk with me.

After watching the TED talk by Hannah, it made me realize I want to teach my son the same thing.  The importance of a hand written letter. 

He already knows the excitement of getting a personal letter in the mail.  He is thrilled when something arrives in the mail for him {like mother, like son!}.  

November is the month to be thankful {as if we shouldn’t be thankful every other month too!}.  This year I wanted to do something with little man that would be fun, but something that would take more thought and time than just picking one thing we are thankful for each day {although, we will probably do that too!}.  And, I wanted something that might also turn into a little life lesson.   

Every day in November we will pick one {or more} person we are thankful for and write and send a letter to him or her.  

I think this will be fun for us both to do.  I think it will be good for me too.  Giving me an ‘excuse’ to sit and write a letter a day to someone who is important to me and giving me the opportunity to share that with her. 

Hopefully I can brighten someone’s day! 

Let ‘Project Thankfulness’ and letter writing begin! 

Join us!