My birthday is on Christmas Eve... a thank you note question.

[lellah]

My birthday is December the 24.   Christmas gifts and birthday gifts get muddled together, and I'm not sure about how just to send the thank you notes I'm very scrupulous about.  I'm wondering if it's okay to save myself some time, effort, and postage by sending a single thank you note to people, especially when gifts have been wrapped together?  It seems sort of like I'm sending sort of a subtle dig by sending two thank yous in that case.  But even when gifts have been kept separate--which I appreciate tremendously--I feel it's a bit weird for people to get thank you notes in the same day's mail, like I'm overemphasizing myself somehow.  Can I combine like, say, this:

"Dearest Aunty, thank you so for putting the time and thought into tracking down just the right Christmas sweater and matching holiday pompom hat* for my Christmas and birthday gifts.  That exact shade of red is my favorite, and I will think of you fondly whenever I "don me now my gay apparel.  Warmly- Lellah" 

*this happened, by the way.  I'm the proud owner of a hat shaped like a reindeer.  Whee.

[Sharnita]

Are you opening these gifts in their presence?  Are the Christmas gifts part of an exhchange rather than them giving you gifts?

[lellah]

Are you opening these gifts in their presence?  Are the Christmas gifts part of an exhchange rather than them giving you gifts?

Generally speaking, I'm not opening at least one of the gifts with the giver.  Some of them arrive by mails.  If I'm out to dinner with a friend in celebration of my birthday, I may open my birthday gift at the table and then be urged to wait to open the other at Christmas.  I'll give my friend her gift and urge her to do the same.  Or, if I'm at a Christmas party where gifts are exchanged, I generally take the birthday gifts that are delivered then home with me unopened (after thanking the giver, of course) so as not to distract people from the celebration at hand by shoehorning in my birthday.  That sort of thing. 

[Sharnita]

I think there are actually different situations in different circumstances.

1) If you open it in their presence a verbal thank you then and there should suffice.  I think that would be especially true in a case where you are exchanging gifts.  You give them a gift, they give you one and then you say thanks, they say it - I don't think it needs to be more complicated than that.

2) You get gifts sent to you but packaged together.  I would send them a short letter that included thanks for both items maybe a brief little paragraph for each. You could mention how you spent your birthday, holiday plans ....

3) 2 gifts that are not packaged together and not opened in front of the giver.  I would send 2 cards.

[Luci45]

As a giver, I find one note enough. I've dealt with a Dec. 22 birthday and a Dec. 24 birthday.

I was very careful about using birthday paper and Chistmas paper, but as long as the note indicated that the receiver noted which was which, I felt properly thanked and appreciated

[camlan]

I think that one thank you note that clearly acknowledges both gifts is fine. The rule is that you need to thank the giver, not that you have to pen a separate note per gift.