Wow, where did the time go...Happy December 1st!
My family and I had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving week-end at home. We also celebrated my youngest daughter Lucie's 7th birthday on the 29th of November! Now, it is officially the Countdown to Christmas...
Over the long week-end, I (along with everyone else) was inundated by TV ads, emails blasts, Facebook posts, and flyers from our favorite retailers / boutiques on all of the upcoming holiday deals on the best gifts to give your loved ones, relatives, friends, teachers, etc. Of course, my gift giving list in my head was getting longer and longer...and my budget was getting bigger and bigger! Yikes.
Last week, I received a wonderful letter from The Wolf School about the school starting a new holiday tradition that I wanted to share:
Dear Families:
Each year, parents want to thank our faculty and staff during the holidays for the work they do with their children. We have always graciously accepted these generous gifts, and we appreciate everything families do for our students and this school.
This year, we are starting another new tradition! We know the holidays can be hectic and stressful for all families, and we want to take the pressure off, so you don’t have to find that “perfect gift” for your child’s team. We know your intentions are purely generous, however we are asking that parents refrain from giving gifts to staff this holiday season.
For those students and families who feel compelled to do something, a heartfelt card is more than enough. As we talk about gratitude within the school, we want to stress to our students that heartfelt appreciation, well expressed, carries far more weight than any material item — whether to a teacher or anyone else in their lives.
I truly appreciated receiving this letter from Head of School Anna Johnson at The Wolf School. The holidays are indeed - hectic, stressful, and...can be expensive. As a mother of 4, I am so grateful for my children's teachers and I have always felt compelled to give teachers a small gift to show our token of appreciation. Thanks to Anna's letter, I will be doing something a little different this year with teacher gifts. I will be sending teachers a hand-written note (with cards by inspiredbyit) to express how much I appreciate what they do for our kids. A handwritten note - almost a rarity these days - means so much especially in the digital age we live in with emails, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
Thank you, Anna!