Saturday 11 August 2012

Write often...

We tend to go on one big adventure every year.  This year, we're preparing to go on a trip to the other side of the country.  And, while we've started to prepare our children for the culture and history they will experience while they are there, we also think this will be an opportunity for them to write letters home.

Their grandparents have always sent them postcards as they've traveled the planet.  Granted, our loved ones usually arrive home before the postcards do, but the children are so excited to know that soon, there will be a treasured piece of mail just for them. 

On our trip last year, we tried to return the favour, and also share the tradition with the children's friends.  We picked up postcards, wrote our messages...and then were stumped with where to send them.  Whether it was that we didn't know a postal code or a last name to look up, it turned out to be a more time-consuming task than we anticipated.  In most of the cases, we wound up hand-delivering our mail.  It didn't deliver the instant gratification of whipping up a quick love note and dropping it in the mail, with knowledge that a loved one would soon receive a sweet surprise and old-fashioned X's and O's.  We knew our intentions were good, and we learned how to make it even better for the next time.

This year, we're ready to write!  My first task was to purchase an address book for each of my two older children.  They are responsible for writing in the names and addresses of those they may decide to mail messages to.  Finding an address book that was pocket-sized, yet had enough space for a beginning writer to fit all those letters and numbers in was a little daunting at first.  Fortunately, there is a little more selection in stores with their back-to-school sales and we found something suitable at Walmart.  I did consider making my own, and just stumbled upon the store-bought ones before I got to making them.







Second, I made a wrap to carry of the letter-writing supplies we would need.  I used the free Gratitude Wrap tutorial from Amanda Blake Soule's website.  It measures almost 7" x 9", and it has three pockets on the inside.  Perhaps by some good luck, but more likely because of Amanda's amazingly functional design, these pockets exactly fit the envelopes we had on hand, the address book, letter-writing paper, a pencil or pen, and stamps.








Now, just to get everything else ready for our trip!



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