Thank You Notes? Thanks for nuthin'!

I came across this article today about the nearly extinct art of gratitude, and sadly, this couldn't even come closer to my side of the family. Be it Christmas, Wedding, Birthday, Baby Shower or whatever gifts, once you give or send it you pretty much don't get any acknowledgment in return. Maybe at some family get-together a year later I may ask "hey, how'd you like that bottle-opener cowboy belt-buckle.... did you even get it?" with an answer like "yeah, in fact I'm wearing it now-let me crack open a beer for ya'!". That's about all I can expect from them. They're not bad people either and it's not like they were all raised in a barn or Canada. They just don't get around to it. I really wonder sometimes what they think when they get our Thank-you's? Like maybe "those crazy folk do strange stuff, with there 'fancy' indoor plumbing and all".

USA Today: Whatever happened to thank- you notes?

What to do with Toys the kids don't want?

Christmas is over and the kids just replaced thier Lego's with an iPod. So what do you do with the toys they don't play with? In the past my wife and I have always held a garage sale with some friends or just donated unwanted stuff to the Salvation Army. Another option is to swap them with kids online. Toyswap charges a $1 transaction fee to exchange with somebody -which isn't too bad. It's a novel idea, sort of an Ebay for kids. I still prefer Craigslist or a simple garage sale, but I like having the option.

Toyswap

The "Art" of the Christmas card

My wife and I started sending out Christmas cards with letters the first year we were married because 1) her relatives live everywhere, we rarely see them and they do the same 2) we have no idea what we did all year until we write the letter, 3) we can make really weird, sometimes, creative 'photoshopped' pictures for the card. And like the true artist that I am, I always wait until the week before Christmas creating the family portrait for the card. In the past it always seemed like too much of an effort especially when we have a million other things going on. But this year was our baby's first Christmas and it dawned on us while reading letter from years past how much our daughter would enjoy these when she gets older. It also helps me see how crazy we really are.

LA TImes: Card tricks for Christmas