The valuable lesson I learnt at Christmas time

I learnt a very valuable lesson last Christmas.

Our son and daughter-in-law are very modern people. They rely almost entirely on the digital world and so for the longest time we have assumed that we were accommodating them by always communicating with them using social media, text messages and email.

We have for years sent Christmas, Birthday and Anniversary wishes electronically.

Last Christmas, for some unknown reason we gave them old fashioned Christmas cards instead.

Our son loved it, but it was the reaction of our daughter-in-law that almost reduced us to tears.

She just looked at us and said that she had wanted an old fashioned card, preferably in the post, for so long. She went on to tell us that she enjoyed the anticipation of opening the envelope and then putting the card on the cabinet to look at throughout the festive season.

I have therefore decided that for ever after they will receive old fashioned cards, posted.

It taught me that I should never assume what people want, and that younger people are still touched by beautiful, useless things that they can hold.

Do you send cards and personal letters for special occasions such as birthdays and Christmas? Share your stories with us.

Keen to put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, to share your thoughts with other 60-pluses? You can sign up as a contributor and submit your stories to Starts at 60 here, and join the Starts at 60 Bloggers Club on Facebook here to talk to other writers in the Starts at 60 community and learn more about how to write for Starts at 60.