I am a college student with three aunts on my stepmother’s side. Each holiday, two of them send me a Christmas gift. My dad always asks what I’d like, then relays the message onto them. For the past five years, I’ve always requested and received gift cards. My (very low stakes) question: How can I write better thank-you notes? I am friendly with these aunts, but we aren’t at all close, simply because of geography (I haven’t spoken to any of them since 2015). My stepmother relays general life updates between her sisters and me. Currently the formulation I use is one to two sentences of specific thanks or how I plan to use the gift, one sentence of general good wishes plus one sentence of “hope to see you soon,” and an offer to host if they are ever in the area where I attend school. This seems so bland and perfunctory! How can I improve my thank-you notes without making any statements that would ring false considering our friendly but not intimate relationship?