The Lost Art of Snail Mail

I love this time of year for so many reasons, but one right at the very top of my list is for all the holiday cards we receive in the mail! 11 months out of the year our mail is mostly boring and full of recyclable flyers and ads, but December changes all that! Snail mail is my favorite, and we could all use more of it! Call me old fashioned, but I look forward to sitting down in the evenings, turning on some Christmas carols and hand addressing my holiday cards. I know it would be so much faster to print out labels or pay extra for the card company to print the recipients right on the envelopes for me, but I like to idea of slowing down and taking the time to do it myself. I also search out cute washing tape, writing pens, and thoughtfully choose our postage stamps for the season, all with the intentions to make someone smile when they see our card among their stack of mail.

I'm happy to say that my kids have caught on to my love of snail mail, and want in on the action! You can find them writing letters and sending their artwork to their Nana (thier great grandma!), out of state cousins, and far away friends (my oldest even has a pen pal!) throughout the year, even more so at Christmas time. One thing that I love about all of those special people is that they take the time to write my kids back every single time! And my kids always light up to find a piece of snail mail waiting for them!

It's super easy to gather up supplies so that your own little ones can do this too! My favorite place to scoop up cute stuff is...you guessed it...the Target dollar spot! I buy cards and stamps anytime I see them there. Add in some fun pens, markers, stickers, washi tape, a roll of stamps from the post office (you wont beleive how exciting it is for kids to have thier own!), and put it all in a box or basket, and viola! If your little ones are too young to write an actual letter, drawing a picture or sending a little polaroid photo is just as fun for them and the recipient!