Stop! Wait a minute Mr Postman ...

Does anyone still handwrite letters to their friends and family? Do any of you receive post that isn't bills? I absolutely love getting a hand written letter or writing one for someone else. I understand that email is quicker and easier and the information you divulge in a letter is "old" by the time the person receives it but I, personally, think its one of the most wonderful ways to communicate with friends.

I left university about 6 years ago and when I left I kept in touch with my best friend Kelly by writing letters and popping them in the post to one another. I came across one that was in a box when I moved house a few months ago, it was written on green and yellow paper and in an orange envelope, even the fact is was on coloured paper made it more interesting than receiving the same information by email. Its a funny read! Now she lives in Dubai and we communicate on whatsapp everyday because its easier and quicker, we mainly talk about what food we are eating that day or what we want to do when we grow up, but I have her address so I am planning on putting something in writing soon which i'm sure she will enjoy!

I used to write to my Grandma because she felt the same way about handwritten letters, I haven't lived in the same town as my grandma since I was 6 so writing to her was always a fun way of communicating and my mum used to remind me to do it especially after birthdays and Christmas to thank her for whatever she had given me. I used to have to do it in pencil so if I made a mistake I could rub is out and then when i'd finished it I could go over the pencil with a pen! Now i'm a rebel and I use pen straight away! When I moved to the middle east she would send me copies of "Shout" magazine because I couldn't buy it over there and she'd always stick a letter in to tell me her news. My dad decided to buy her a fax machine so that we could communicate faster, which was still quite nice because I could still handwrite the letter it just wouldn't take 3 weeks to get to her! She was, almost definitely, my favourite penpal!

I suppose people sometimes associate letter writing with love, ever written a love letter? even to a friend? Love letters don't have to be about romantic love, even just a quick letter to tell someone you are thinking about them can be a really lovely thought. I used to have a game with a friend called "name 3 reasons" It came from a TV programme called Married Single Other where the couple would say to one another "name 3 reasons why you love me" and they came out with really silly, but lovely things to say to each other. If you don't have a partner do it with a friend, you might get some really surprising stuff out of them, or just silly answers that make you laugh, we wrote them in letters once and stuck them on our fridge as a reminder, I think I still have mine somewhere.

If you have a friend who has hobbies, make your letters themed, if they have favourite colours, use that colour pen, make it fun and enjoy it. If you aren't very creative, just go to paperchase and pick out a nice card that is blank inside, you can get some lovely pens in there too, the pen is also very important! Showing gratitude or doing something for someone else will lift your spirits during these cold winter months, and when you get one back you will probably feel like this ... 

The next time you think about emailing your friend who lives overseas, or writing a birthday card to someone, get yourself a lovely pen and some nice paper and handwrite it! 

These are good pens!!

xx