A funny!

Okay, so I know that I already blogged today, but this is just too funny! I found it searching for beading blogs....Hope you enjoy it! Oh, I found it on http://prettykittydogmoonjewelry.blogspot.com/

Have a great night!

Tiffany


Well basically it's barely past Christmas and you haven't even gotten your act together in ANY way...the paper is probably still on the floor and, as in this photo I borrowed from myspace, you still have friends hanging out at your izzle'. HOWEVER! That does not mean you don't have to fulfill your duties etiquette-wise! One of which is writing proper thank you notes! You really ought to, don't you agree?


Here is a handy guide to help you out if you are, in any way, confused as to the proper way to thank your friends and relatives for those cool gifts they sent your way just last week or so.

First:

What a proper thank you note is NOT:

1) A phone call wherein you remark briefly upon the nice statuette/bank made of some strange paste, depicting Benjamin Franklin holding a kite which your cousin Alfred seemed to think was right down your alley. Making this a really short phone call is even worse when you say you have to go and you are really busy doing the laundry, "goodbye". Rudeness personified!

2) A piece of line paper raggedly torn from your kid's school notebook, which you then write upon using a crayon or a pencil stub thanking your great aunt Irma for the ribbon candy she sent which you actually gave her last year (recycling is "big" in your family-- sometimes too big!--oops). Adding stickers or stars to the paper and an A+! sign doesn't make it all better, either.

3) A store bought card with "Thank You" printed on the front in tacky script, wherein you have written : "Thank you for the gift" and signed your name. This is way too generic and a good example of what NOT to do , in the sense that it is suggested that you always name the present which you have received, and describe why you like it, even if it is a check. If it is a check, you can tell the person who gave it to you what you plan to buy with it. Or how you plan to save for something special with it, like for example college, or that cool car, the DeLorean from the movie "Back to the Future". We ALL want that car! Frankly some of us want it more than we want college!


The above are all good examples of incorrect ways to thank people who have actually made the effort to send you something.


Here, in a form slightly similar to a Mad Lib (by which I mean, I filled in the blanks, where the blanks would appear in each sentence of a Mad Lib, by darkening the nouns and adjectives which I chose arbitrarily for my example, so that all YOU have to do is remove them and substitute appropriately) is a perfect thank you note, with extra explanations as well, where necessary.

Dear Uncle Harry, substitute YOUR relative's name: get it? This isn't even my relative; I just made Uncle Harry up for the heck of it


I was so delighted to receive the fabulous green wastebasket from you for Christmas!
note what I have done here:

1) I have "celebrated and honored the gift by calling it "fabulous"


2) I have actually identified it specifically by naming its color, "green", so that Uncle Harry knows I actually admired it closely enough to notice the color


3) I have named what the item is, a "wastebasket". All too often people make the grievous error of not naming the gift which they have received. This is actually really naughty in the world of etiquette. I don't know why, but if you got a wastebasket from Uncle Harry, you must name it--speak the word or you have really blown it!

I know that I will use this great wastebasket a LOT, as I cannot help but make so many spelling errors while writing my novel about "Pirate Joe", the most scurrilous Pirate ever to ride the High Seas!

note what I have done here:

I have extolled the wastebasket's purpose. You are allowed to lie a bit (white lies are all right in situations like this, as you did not request this wastebasket--possibly you don't even like green, or you use spellcheck all the time, or you already have a paper shredder or a different wastebasket you are unnaturally attached to, and you have no intention of using this green wastebasket at all, ever). You MUST praise the intended purpose of the gift in your thank you note. I have added extra interest, for Uncle Harry's benefit, by making up a novel which he can then imagine I am writing, about "Pirate Joe".

Now that I have done this, I actually think may write this novel because I don't have anything else I am doing. So hey, why not? Don't steal my idea. I will be checking up on all of you periodically.

Now you insert what the family is doing. This is the "general part" of the letter and an excellent addition to a good thank you note. A person who has sent a gift may or may not want to have to read about your family, but it is polite to write a brief sentence or two about the recent goings on chez vous.

We have been enjoying really weird weather here. It's so gross! I was just beginning to think we were going to have to dig a tunnel through the snow to get to the grocery store when all of a sudden it rained a ton, and now it's just a big pile of muddy grass and pools of water! What's the deal with that?!!!

note: As you can see by the last paragraph, I have lost interest with this entry. Maybe you can do better. I think you get the idea, at least. Just blather on a bit.


Uncle Harry (repeating name is optional), You are just the BEST! I just LOVE this great green wastebasket!

Repeating the name of the item which you received is really important, right at the end of the letter.


I hope we get to see you very soon,

you always add something along these lines even if you don't mean it, even slightly


love,
or
Very Truly Yours,

or something along those lines to finish the thank you note, because that is imperative,

Jeannie


note: Use the name the person knows you by, not your new name you have been using for the last 15 years, such Meredith or Rafe or whatever you changed it to, because you thought it sounded classier not that that is wrong or anything. It is just confusing for the people who knew you before you changed it

And there you have it! Voila! A great thank you note, all hand cobbled and then smoothed over to perfection for you! Use it with my best wishes! I swear I did my best for you. Any questions? All will be carefully considered and great attempts will be made to explain.