We’ve made it through to the last day of our ten-day challenge! I hope you found some of these challenges useful or interesting or helpful. After today we’ll be back to our regularly-scheduled programming.

This last challenge is dedicated to holiday thanks. It’s very easy in this busy time to forget to properly thank those who are generous to us. As I have said before, much of making letter writing easy is having some systems in place to create an environment that encourages jotting a note here and there.

For your holiday unwrapping, you use the standard trick that people use at bridal and baby showers. Have a designated note taker to record the gifts as they are unwrapped. Jot down the name of the person giving the gift, who it was given to and what the gift is. Add to the list all the money you received from cards that came before Christmas as well.

With this information you can quickly compile your thank you notes. Here is a very easy formula for building a thank you note. Modify this as needed:

Dear [Giver],

Thank you so much for the [name of gift]. I really love it. [insert one sentence to indicate how you'll use it or why you love it]. I appreciate your thoughtfulness and generosity.

Happy Holidays (or whatever expression you like here),
your signature

Here is why I recommend doing thank you notes this way. First of all, putting in the actual name of the gift and what you like about it personalizes the note so people don’t think you’re just sending the same canned message to everyone. Second it makes it look like you’ve taken time to actually think about the gift. You’re completing the circle of giving. You give a gift to me (an act of generosity) and I give something back to you (an act of sincere gratitude). It’s a closed circuit that leaves everyone feeling good about the interaction. Have you ever gotten a great gift that you didn’t write a thank you note for? I think it makes people feel a little crummy on the inside, so don’t let that happen to you!

Now for the big Christmas quandary. How do you thank someone for a gift you don’t really like? No problem. The thing about gifts is you’re thanking the person for their thoughtfulness, not so much for the item. So you can say, “thank you so much for the purple sweatshirt that’s two sizes too big and has battery-powered talking dinosaurs on the front that makes my hooters look twelve sizes larger than they actually are. It makes me so happy to know you were thinking of me.” Don’t ever, ever, ever say you love something if you don’t, but DO express how you feel about the person caring enough to buy or make you a gift.

Try to get your thank you notes out by the end of the year, but remember… it’s never too late to say thanks. Better late than never.

Our dryer stopped working mysteriously last night. My husband took it apart today and did all sorts of diagnostic magic with it and it appeared to him that everything was working correctly. And yet the dryer would still not dry.

Finally, he called a repairman who, as a kindness to us, left another job and drove 20 minutes to our house only to find that our son had flipped a switch we didn’t even know existed and turned the heat off for the dryer! The repairman was very good-natured and chuckled about the whole situation and was even good enough to help my husband put the dryer back together. And at the end, he didn’t even charge us for his visit.

We were moved by his kindness and went out to purchase a gift certificate for him for a local restaurant that we enjoy. Then on to the note… what is a good way to thank someone for their time? You can approach it like any other gift. The only commodity people in the service industry have is their time, so it’s the equivalent of someone from a store giving away merchandise or the manager of a restaurant giving away free food.

This is how we did our note. Feel free to borrow the wording as needed!

Dan,

Thank you for coming by so promptly today to fix our dryer problem. I appreciate the generous gift of your time. Enclosed is a gift certificate to XYZ Cafe. I hope you’ll enjoy a meal on us!

Stanley Politeguy

People seem to have a love-hate relationship with the holiday newsletter. People like sending them, another group either loves or hates to receive them. The two main complaints about holiday letters are: 1) they seem mass-produced and impersonal, and 2) they are often tiresome and boring to read.

The good news for those of you who like doing a holiday newsletters (or for those of you who have been afraid to try it) is that, if done well, they can be a received with enthusiasm and possibly even anticipated as the holiday nears. Here are 15 steps you can take to make sure your holiday newsletter is the best it can possibly be.

1. Consider your audience. Who is the newsletter for? Just for intimate family? For family and friends? When you write your newsletter be sure to do it in a way that all people will find it interesting. While you and your close family might be fascinated by every burp and gurgle that comes out of little Emily, my guess is that the audience for that news will number somewhere around five (if that). Instead, create a nice mix of personal news with other things that casual friends will find useful and inspiring.
2. Monitor your tone. Had a hard year? Had a great year? Watch for the extremes of both. A holiday letter should be upbeat and pleasurable to read. It’s okay to admit your hardships or tragedies, however, consider putting a spin on it that will turn it into something positive. If you’ve had a fabulous year of successes, please do share them, but watch that you don’t cross over the line from pride into bragging. Also remember that some of the people who receive your letters may have had one of the worst years of their lives.
3. Include pictures. People love pictures. They are interesting and break up long paragraphs of text which will make your newsletter easier for busy people to digest. Instead of using clip art or stock photos, use your own personal photos that reflect activities or accomplishments throughout the year. You can also add interest by drawing in silly thought balloons or informative captions. Whatever pictures you use, make sure the people are big enough to be identifiable and do use a good print quality so the photos are clear and attractive.
4. Find the humor. Even a newsletter that is low on the scale of interesting can be salvaged if it contains a few nuggets of humor. Try to find humorous things that have happened in your life over the year and include those or try to put a funny spin on something ordinary. If you don’t feel like that’s your style of writing, maybe you can have a family member do a “guest column” in your newsletter — maybe they will have a funny interpretation of your year or a particular event. Another alternative is humor through pictures. If there are any amusing photos be sure to include them!

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Turkey day is over. Button up those pants and let’s get to work! Were you invited to any parties or any dinners? If so, this is your friendly nag reminder to write a thank you note! Not enough people write thank you notes these days and they are so important.

You should read this great article called The Secret of My Success. It’s about how the simple act of writing a thank you note can change your life. Seriously.

If this year you were an invitER instead of the invitEE, you can still feel free to write notes to all your guests to thank them for coming. How classy and thoughtful is that?