Thank You Cards, Obsolete?

One of the things on my To Do List this weekend is to finally write the last few Thank You Cards for Christmas.  It is always hard for me to get them done in a timely manner.  Right after Christmas there is usually a flurry of other things to do during the end of December, and January is quarter close at work which fills my every waking moment.  While each Thank You Card takes very little effort to write, it still can be hard to find the time and motivation to do them.  I make myself do it every year though, because it seems like the right thing to do.  However, it seems to be a dying tradition, because very few other people seem to write Thank You Cards anymore.  Have they become obsolete in today’s culture?

I write Thank You Cards for just about every gift and extra nice gesture that I receive.  I write one for every birthday gift I receive.  I write one for every Christmas present I receive.  I wrote one for every gift I received at my wedding shower and my wedding.  I wrote one to everyone who interviewed me during my last job search.  I wrote one to the cousins who let us stay at their house for a week when we went to Seattle in 2015.  I make my stepson write one to each person in my family who gave him gifts (if he was my kid I would make him do his dad’s side of the family too, but it somehow seems wrong to force it on him when his dad seems to care less).  I only make two exceptions to the Thank You Card rule.  I do not write Thank You Cards for small token gifts that were themselves a thank you from another person.  I also do not write them for gifts received from my husband and stepson as it seems overkill to hand them a written note in the living room.

While I do still often receive verbal thanks from people, I do not receive very many Thank You Cards.  I sometimes receive them for wedding and baby gifts.  I almost never receive a written note for any Christmas or birthday gift I give to anyone.  The sole exception to this is my Grandma who faithfully writes a lovely note every Christmas.  I did not see many Thank You Letters sent from the people I interviewed for the open position at work a few months ago, and I know the practice is still stressed at colleges and in career advice materials.  I do not even remember the last time I received one for a random gift or act of kindness that I provided.

I know that doing nice things and giving people gifts is not done in order to receive a Thank You Card, but it really does make an impression on me when I get one afterward.  I feel appreciated, and it makes me want to do more things for the person who sent it.  I tend to save them in my scrapbooks because I love receiving them so much.  I know we are all busy, but it only takes ten minutes to put together a few sentences acknowledging the gift/kindness and expressing gratitude for it.  I really think this is important, and so I will continue to write them.

What do you think?  Are Thank You Cards still an important tradition?  Do you write them?  Why or why not?

See you next week!