The Art of Thank You Notes

As a child raised in the South, my mother instilled in me the principles of writing thank you notes in a timely matter. As a child, they were the bane of christmases and birthdays. Now, I do enjoy writing them and supporting the U.S. Postal Service. There really is nothing quite like receiving a handwritten note. Despite years (17 to be exact) of practice in the art of writing thank you notes, at times I find myself at a lost on how to approach writing a thank you for certain gifts. It is easy to thank someone for a watch or earrings, or even a gift card, but I often find it hard to write a thank you for cash or check.

I sometimes believe that it is tacky to just bluntly thank some for sending you cash. This might be a personal dilemma, but some others might feel the same way. I find it is easier to thank someone for money when I format it in something similar to this:
     Dear Aunt Jane,
        Thank you so much for the check/gift! I am using it in addition to other gifts to buy an Anne Klein watch (or other gift.) I have been saving for a while and this is exactly what I needed to get it. Thanks again for the gift.
     Love,
         Alexis

I find that as long as you mention what you are doing with the money, it lessons the tackiness of writing about money.