Mailbox Memories: Remember When...

Do y'all remember when you only had one mailbox? And it was either in front of your house or in an actual post office.  The Merry Mommas do.  (We know, we know, we both look 20...but we aren't!) The only mail you had to "worry" about was the mail coming into those actual physical mailboxes.  Well, that's not the world we live in today.  We have "mail" coming at us in tons of ways. And that's okay!  Email, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and all the other social media sites are fun and add things to our lives. But, the MERRY MOMMAS are real and know that they can also detract from our lives.

So what's a savy girl (or boy for all 3 male readers) to do...

Well, we stumbled upon this great article (on Facebook!) and wanted to share it with all of you!

5 Questions To Ask Before Posting

What do you think? We would love to hear your comments!

Mailbox Memories: 40 Days

Spring is the time of year you often hear about people making sacrifices all in the name of Lent.

No cokes. (Which really meands DPs).

No chocolate.

No yelling at kids.

Or husbands.

Or dogs.

(Who are we kidding... we could never not yell at our husbands).

;)

And sometimes people choose not to make a sacrifice, but rather to offer a service.

Be kinder.

Be more patient.

Pray every hour.

In the 4th grade, Merry Momma K decided she would make her bed every day without being asked. And from then on, she has made her bed {almost} every day since.

We love the idea of committing to one small act that can brighten the day of someone else. So, we greet you for one more Thursday with a new challenge.

We know. That seems like a lot. But it isn't.

10 minutes, tops, a day.

10 minutes of your time to bring an immeasurable amount of love, admiration, joy, and gladness to someone else.

You don't get much more merry than that.

AND... we have a list. (Because of course we do).

(Now, you can veer from the list (although we don't know why you would), this is just to get you thinking.)

Some of the items on the list are hard. And we did that on purpose. It's not always easy to admit when you're wrong.

Forgiveness is difficult to offer.

What do you say to someone you've never met?

We understand - we are unsure how we are going to do it all, too.

But in the end, we think that you will so glad you did.

The letters can be notes in some cases. Emails, even FB messages, are fine in some cases....maybe even necessary.

If 40 days is too short, then do it in 50. The point is to commit to doing it.

The list includes...

There you have it. We hope you take the challenge with us and tell us about it.

Here's to spreading the merry one mailbox at a time!

Mailbox Memories: The Unexpected

Today we present another challenge. But before we get to that... how many of you sent a letter to someone last week? Hmmmm???

Well, if not...then you have double duty this week.

First let's begin with a lesson. According to the USPS...

First-Class Mail

Minimum Weight: None. Maximum Weight: 13 ounces (over 13 ounces, First-Class Mail becomes Priority Mail). Letter Maximum Weight: 3.5 ounces. Minimum Quantity to Mail at Commercial Prices: 500 pieces. First-Class Mail letter-size pieces that are square, rigid or meet at least one of the nonmachinable characteristics are subject to the nonmachinable surcharge. Flat-size pieces that are rigid, nonrectangular, or have uneven thickness will pay the parcel price. All mailable matter can be mailed as First-Class Mail. Some things MUST be mailed as First-Class Mail (or Priority Mail), including: Handwritten or typewritten material Bills, statements of account or invoices, credit cards Personal correspondence, personalized business correspondence All matter sealed or otherwise closed against inspection.

Great information, right? But what does this mean??? Well, readers and fellow sharers of merry... this means that the sky is literally the limit as to what you can mail. In fact, there are so many fun things that you can mail that a fellow blogger has an entire blog dedicated to just that. MAILING FUN THINGS.

Like a bouncy ball.

Or Sprinkles.

Or a disguise.

And a homemade HOPSCOTCH board.

Y'all. This momma is amazing. We salute her with the HAIL MERRY award. (Which doesn't actually exist, but it totally should).

::open notebook. make note of hail merry awards. debut in May.::

So our challenge to you.

Find something. Create something. Craft something. Buy something. That is 13 oz or less. Take pics of you packaging it all up and ask the receiver to take pics of getting it. And then send it in. Think of the fun mailbox memory you would create for someone. THIS IS AMAZING and we want to see how you share the merry!!!

Mailbox Memories: Letters to your loved ones

Hi friends!

Have you seen this commercial?


You have tears in your eyes, don't you? You aren't crying alone, we do too!

As a loyal reader, you know that we have discussed "keepsake photos" all week. We showcased monthly pictures, yearly pictures and even showed you pics of us in our pjs!  And CLEARLY we love pictures.  But you know what we love even more, the stories that go with pictures.

In a society that values a selfie more than a hand written note, we want you to take 30 minutes today and write a letter to someone you love.  Tell them why you love them or share a funny story or whatever you want to share.

While, we know Sophie isn't really real - YOUR kid is.

So, write a letter to you kid about when they were tiny. Tell them how you felt the first time they laughed. Tell them your fears. Tell them how brave you were and ARE. Tell them about things you don't see in a picture. Tell them about you. Tell them a story about when you were little or how you fell in love with their other parent.

And if you don't have kids, send a letter to your spouse, your mom, your friend...tell them something that will make their day better.  Share a story from your perspective. Tell them about you.



And, because we like to make you cry (in a good way) enjoy this story!

Words matter! Say kind ones today!

With love,
The Merry Mommas

Mailbox Memories: Wall Worthy

Merry Momma K here.

Today I want to let you in to a little part of my childhood and one of the first times that I "got" how much a note in the mail can mean to someone.

My own momma, Gigi is her preferred title these days, was very clear about the rules when it came to writing thank you notes. The rule was - they weren't optional. We wrote thank you notes for birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day, and basically any time anyone did something for one of us.

I don't know that I hated it, but I do know it wasn't my favorite.

But something happened that made me realize how much this one small gesture can mean to somebody.

I had just celebrated a birthday and my Godparents had mailed me a fabulous present. Because that's what they were - fabulous. So, I got out my trusty sundae stationery that I adored and wrote a note. Put the note in the mail and didn't think much of it after that.

(I tried to find a picture of said stationery and probably spent too much time searching google but you should know it was adorable. It was striped paper with a picture of an icecream sundae that was also striped. Sounds weird, but trust me, it wasn't.)

Summer arrives and we make one of our many visits to Baton Rouge to visit our entire family. (My parents grew up in Baton Rouge and moved to the great state of Texas when I was in utero.) We of course made the rounds and made, what to me, was the best stop of all - a visit to my Nanan and Renee's (Re-knee) house. And that's where I saw it. My note. My hand-written, little insignificant note of thanks. Framed and hanging in the hallway of their house. Right alongside the pictures of their wedding, children, grandchildren and other important artifacts.

My note.

I couldn't believe it. I had made "the wall". I was special. My note was special. I can't really tell you how this made me feel. You see, I idolized my Godparents. I adored them. There aren't two people in the world that can hold a candle to just how spectacular they were.

My Renee (also known as Uncle Mitch) is maybe the coolest person to ever live. He always had candy. He was always on the phone. He wore the most adorable jump suits. He cooked crawfish at 10am. He owned a restaurant. And he had a slight resemblance to Marlon Brando circa The Godfather. In fact my eight-year-old self thought that's who he was. (Maybe because he also had a picture of Marlon Brando hanging in his restaurant and I didn't realize it wasn't Uncle Mitch for a long time). He was kind of your stereotypical Italian mafioso. (I mean, kind of.)

Aunt Faye was such a godly, gentle woman. To this day, if I "misbehave" I wonder what she would think of that. I pray for guidance. I strive to know Jesus as well as she did. She shopped QVC like nobody's business. She always had access to the greatest, hottest toys. She took me on shopping sprees. She let me play in her makeup. She talked to me about how important it is to know and love Jesus. To worship Him. And she put up with Uncle Mitch. ;)

They have five kids of their own, and so many grandchildren that I can't count (20 something) and they still made me feel special and loved and like the most important part of their lives at times. And the day I saw that note, framed, hanging on their wall - I felt like I made them feel important and loved too. That the small amount of time I took to write that note was more than worth the effort.

So, thank you, Mom... for teaching me to take the time to show my gratitude. For sharing the merry with others, may turn out to make you feel more merry than you know.

Don't forget about our giveaway. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post - we will pick a winner on Monday evening. 

Mailbox Memories: Going to the Post Office

Hi friends!

If you recall, we introduced Mailbox Memories last Thursday and today we are featuring our first "real" MM post and we are so excited!  Merry Momma Cindy is going to let you into her world a bit and talk about "Going to the Post Office".

Y'all.  I grew up in a small town.  And I don't mean small as in a suburb of some big city that only had one 5A high school.  I mean a real small town.  Like less than 2,500 people, small.  And there were no cities anywhere around, just farm land.  A town where you really did know everyone and everyone knew you (and your parents, and your grandparents).  True story - my 7th and 8th grade science teacher taught both of my parents.  Anyway, I think you get the point.

And this was our post office:

I'm not really sure why, but our town didn't really do "house mailboxes".  A few people had them, but most everyone had a mailbox in the post office.  And the mailboxes were opened with a combination lock that looked almost exactly like this:

One of my most favorite things to do during the summer was ride my bike down to the post office (almost 3 blocks away) and peek into that window and look for mail!  The mail was typically delivered around 11am.  I might have been known to go down to the post office around 10:45am just to check the box.  And then happily go down again around 11:15am if the box was empty on the first attempt.

The post office almost always had one or two people in it and because it was a tiny town (see the first paragraph), I knew them...or they knew me.  It was a place of social activity. It was a place to say hello and catch up on the latest gossip news. It was one of the epicenters of our community.

It was also a place to learn.  I learned how to unlock a combination lock on box 419 in that building.  I learned about far off places in National Geographic and even places right here in Texas Highways. I learned about celebrating life's big moments when wedding, birthday and shower invitations were delivered.  I learned that sending a thank you letter was a wonderful and right thing to do.  Nothing was more fun than finding mail that wasn't typically in there - you know something other than bills and magazines. 

I really do think my LOVE of mail started in that building!  No, I know my LOVE of mail started in that building.

In the early 1990's our town opened a brand new post office...it is a nice building, it's cleaner and has more secure boxes (you could break that glass with a hard finger poke).  But it isn't "MY" post office.  My post office is now home to my home church's outreach program - a place where people can receive food and clothing if there are in need.  They also run a literacy program out of this building.

And I guess that's okay...because for many years, those doors opened a new world to me...and now they are opening a new world to others - just in a different way.

Mailbox Memories

As we mentioned on Monday, we had two huge brain storming sessions during our blogging hiatus and out of those sessions came an idea we are calling MAILBOX MEMORIES!

And now you're totally saying, "What exactly is Mailbox Memories, Merry Mommas?" Right?

Well, Mailbox Memories will be a set of posts on our blog on Thursdays that gives you a glimpse into our lives and the lives of our readers.  It is where we will get a little more personal.  It will also be a place where you - our loyal readers - can get personal with us.

We have two catalysts for Mailbox Memories:

First, we started this blog because we have a LOVE for real mail.  We love everything about it!  We discuss it here.  Mailbox Memories is going to take our love for mail and discuss it even more!  We will talk about what role "mail" plays in our lives.  It's going to be great! 

Second, we LOVE blogs.  We both became addicted about 5 years ago and we still read blogs we started reading then.  Why?  Because the author(s) let us in, they are honest and personable.  They speak with humor and love and realness.  They are captivating because they are authentic and vulnerable.  And we want to create a space like that for all of us to share!  Make sure you check the blog next Thursday for our first Mailbox Memories post!

We hope Mailbox Memories makes you feel like this!