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I've just sat the sons down to do their thankyous - by email rather than yer actual ink on paper letter this year.
And it was still an exercise akin to drawing teeth/watching paint dry, as they took ten minutes of concentrated thought to crank out 'thank you for my.... I hope all you had a good Christmas....' with furrowed brows as they tried to think up a third line.
Which isn't to say they're not genuinely grateful for their various highly-appreciated presents, and sincerely fond of the assorted real and honorary uncles and aunties who sent them.
And I don't think I can even put it down to them being boys of a primarily mathematical bent and thus inclined to inarticulacy, or whatever the writerly equivalent might be. It's just the whole 'thank you' letters thing.
I could cover pages in English lessons, I used to put my hand up for extra paper in exams, and now I'm a professional wordsmith for goodness sake. But I vividly recall the agonies of Boxing Day afternoon in my grandmother's dining room, struggling to manage to fill a page of Basildon Bond, even using my biggest handwriting and spacing the address and date out as much as I dared. Even when writing to my Auntie Annie and Uncle Peter, or to Great Auntie Ivy, relatives I adored.
But they do have to learn some social manners and saying thank you is important. So hopefully email will be acceptable, and taken in the spirit it's meant.
And it was still an exercise akin to drawing teeth/watching paint dry, as they took ten minutes of concentrated thought to crank out 'thank you for my.... I hope all you had a good Christmas....' with furrowed brows as they tried to think up a third line.
Which isn't to say they're not genuinely grateful for their various highly-appreciated presents, and sincerely fond of the assorted real and honorary uncles and aunties who sent them.
And I don't think I can even put it down to them being boys of a primarily mathematical bent and thus inclined to inarticulacy, or whatever the writerly equivalent might be. It's just the whole 'thank you' letters thing.
I could cover pages in English lessons, I used to put my hand up for extra paper in exams, and now I'm a professional wordsmith for goodness sake. But I vividly recall the agonies of Boxing Day afternoon in my grandmother's dining room, struggling to manage to fill a page of Basildon Bond, even using my biggest handwriting and spacing the address and date out as much as I dared. Even when writing to my Auntie Annie and Uncle Peter, or to Great Auntie Ivy, relatives I adored.
But they do have to learn some social manners and saying thank you is important. So hopefully email will be acceptable, and taken in the spirit it's meant.