I used to be an absolutely fantastic writer of thank you notes.

Hyperbole?

Nope. Seriously. I was good.

This here little writer even got PAID to write thank you notes for those who just didn't have the time to do so themselves. Don't get me started on how odd I found it that I was being paid to produce personal handwritten notes on behalf of someone who should have been doing the actual thanking, but that's beside the point.

The notes got written.

People got thanked.

I got paid very well for an easy peasy job.

Let's just hope the recipients never compare handwriting samples from those notes and the person who they believe wrote them.  The jig will be up.

It was two years ago that my stellar track record for writing thank you's fizzled. As we prepared to move from Chicago to Pittsburgh we received help from many people. In both cities. Help took the form of material items, money, meals, free babysitting, parties, special gifts, and selfless acts of service. It was beautiful.  And overwhelming. In the midst of selling a home, working, keeping my kids calm about the impending move, and selling/buying a home, I just couldn't keep up with the note writing. I quickly realized that if didn't immediately sit down to write a thank you note within 5 minutes of being flooded with goodwill, I was toast. I fell behind. Way behind. I had a similar experience years ago upon attempting to keep up with thanking God for, well, EVERYTHING.  

How did I rectify my social snafu? I planned a killer, "sure to appease everyone" Christmas letter in which I would mention, by name, all of my amazing friends and family members who took such good care of my family during that time. That letter was bumped for a New Year's letter. Only, when that didn't happen, I decided to share the love in a Valentine's letter.  You guessed it.  No dice.  Finally, I realized that our one year anniversary as Pittsburgh peeps was fast approaching, making THAT the perfect date to pull out my incredibly eloquent writing skills. One. Year. Later.

In the end, I ducked my head, averted eye contact, and winded up sending a stupid email - a far cry from the original plan of personalized scrapbooked cards.

Since blowing the biggest Thank You Note Event Ever, I haven't been able to muster the ability to write them. I've fallen off the bike and can't seem to get back on. When I think about a thank note, my head spins. It's the feeling of having fallen into a deep pit with no hope of crawling out.

I do, however, THANK.  As, in person.  And often. I'm not a thankless person.  

I just suck at writing notes.

The problem? My inability to write thank you note  is starting to rub off on my children. Without my mind trained on getting my own notes done, I'm not on top of my game in fostering the importance of this etiquette for my children. While they did write notes for their birthdays - LAST JANUARY - we have failed to do so for all those "no reason" gifts they've received since then.

Which brings us to THANKSgiving.  The holiday of gratitude which leads into Christmas.  It would seem that now would be the time to try and get my thank-you-note-writing mojo back.

I'm curious.

How do you keep up with showing gratitude?  

• Thank you notes?
• Phone calls?
• Thanking in person?

I'm honestly thinking of having some thank you notes designed for myself and my children  with pre-printed quotes inside.  Call them "training wheels", if you will, but I think they might help me build up the strength I need to get back up on that two wheeler.

Much to Emily Post's disapproving eye.