Thank you notes: a ranting

There are some things I'm a little old fashioned about, things like properly written thank you notes and holiday cards (more to come on holiday cards). It's not like thank you's are hard or expensive, but it's the simple courtesy and acknowledgement of the nice thing that someone else did for you. My definition of a properly written thank you is one that is handwritten, includes a mention of the item that was gifted, and is longer than 3 sentences long. It also needs to be completed within an appropriate time frame. Personally, I will admit that I struggle with the timeliness part. Thank you notes should be personalized. If the person took the time and effort to give you a gift, you should take the time to thank the person properly. That means a real message and a real signature.

There are lots of great websites for custom thank you's, here are a couple of nice options:
Tinyprints.com

Papercoterie.com

Shutterfly.com