Suri Cruise and her thank you note

After visiting the Ladies in Waiting children’s store in Shreveport, LA, Katie Holmes and daughter, Suri Cruise, 13 months, sent a thank you note to the store and owner. While in town, the mother and daughter called ahead to say that they would be visiting the store.

The owner, upon hearing that they were coming made a special pink picture frame decorated with a princess, butterflies – and Suri’s name across the bottom. Katie was absolutely delighted –

She was really excited.

The owner also says that Katie and Suri were both lovely and friendly.

Katie was really friendly. When she came in she walked up and introduced herself and Suri. We probably had three other kids in here. She complimented everybody else’s children and said how cute they were. She was really sweet. Katie let Suri walk around. One customer had a two-week-old baby and Suri wanted to pick her up. She would wave at the other children and want to play with them.

What did they buy? A pink dress with white rickrack by Princess Linens, three pairs of rain boots, a blanket, some stuffed bunnies and several games.

A couple of days later the owner received a personal thank you note from Suri (and Katie).

The stationery is cream-colored with ‘Suri Cruise’ embossed across the top. [The note read] Dear Melissa and Pam, Thank you so much for the beautiful frame for Suri. It is so sweet and reminds us of our wonderful visit to your store and our time in Shreveport. It was a pleasure meeting you, and we thank you again for this unexpected treasure. Warmly, Katie and Suri.

Source: PEOPLE

Thanks to CBB readers Elisabeth and Mary Beth.

Comments

Aw! What a cute little munchkin Suri is! She must have mistaken the little baby for one of her dollys! Katie sounds so down to earth and polite. They are really a charming family. On one of recent posts with Katie’s interview one reader said that Katie always seemed so positive and fake… It is absolutely evident here the Katie is just merely a happy and appreciative person and that her interviews are hence probably 100% truthful.

- Daveigh Riley on June 2nd, 2007

How lovely of Katie and Suri sounds like a very sweet girl! It is good to see some positive press for this family but in a lot of ways I feel sorry for Katie that such a simple gesture is made public – I wonder about the motivation of the store…

- Bella on June 2nd, 2007

IF THIS IS TRUE, the Katie sounds like a really down-to-earth person and very sweet…. a celebrity you would actually want to be friends with.

But I still think Tom is wierd!

- TwinMom on June 2nd, 2007

They’ve posted this story on a few other sites, too, like People
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20041143,00.html and DListed http://www.dlisted.com/node/10772#comments. I guess I was wrong to assume it must be a rumour. Anyway, good for Katie for such good manners! There are too many kids out there today who grow up without manners.

Right, we got it from People ourselves (see source link in post). If it was a rumor, it would be marked as one so everyone was aware.

- TwinMom on June 2nd, 2007

i think it is great that katie is teaching suri early on the importance of good manners. it is never to early to teach your children to write thank you notes.

- natalie on June 2nd, 2007

i forgot to add that when kids write thank you notes, it is a sign of good parenting–no doubt about it.

- natalie on June 2nd, 2007

I’m happy to see that some readers are giving credit to Katie for teaching Suri good manners. I don’t think we need to feel sorry for anyone that the store decided to share their experience with Katie and Suri with the public. It sounds like it was all good. Let’s not make it something it wasn’t, as people are want to do regarding the Cruise/Holmes family. I give credit to Katie for not letting the constant denegration of her life with Tom and their child turn her into a curmudgeonly hermit. Perhaps she really is happy with her life?

- Carol on June 2nd, 2007

Kids writing thank you notes? Come on people, I don’t believe Suri is actually at all aware of the fact her mother wrote a note with her name on it, let alone what a thank you note even is. She’s a bit young yet!

- lucee on June 2nd, 2007

I have no doubt Katie did all this. But please remember she hired her own publicist a few months back, mostly to make her sound less crazy. It might be safe to assume the Cruise-Holmes family does everything, from visiting a local store to writing a thank-you note to being “Spontaneously” snapped as a family on her film set, for an affect. She is married to a man who thinks PPD can be cured by a heaping dose of L.Ron Hubbard. I still say this is damage control.

- ldyla on June 2nd, 2007

Lucee, of course Suri didn’t write the note. But her mom is setting the standard, and that’s very important. Demonstrating an activity to a child over and over is how they learn — Suri will probably never realize that her mom taught her manners from infancy; they’ll just be a natural part of her personality.

- madam pince on June 2nd, 2007

Katie is well known as a nice person, all the way back to before she became famous. Its always nice to start them young. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill said in an interview that they started teaching their daughters thank you from the day they were born, not such a weird thing. The nice thing about starting thank you notes so young is that by the time they become old enough it comes as second nature. Very nice gesture. Many moms send thank you notes when their children recieve gifts, so this doesn’t sound so strange to me(its actually for the store owners benefit for Katie and Suri to thank them as they did gift Suri with a frame so why is it so strange for them to thank them for the gift??). Natalie, what you posted is so right when parents write thank you notes it is a sign of good parenting. I totally agree with you. As far as rumors when have you known People.com to post a rumor? As far as staging a photo there are journalists and photographers on location at movie sets all the time so pics of suri and Tom visiting Katie shouldn’t come as a surprise and don’t sound “staged” to me. It just happens. Remember as celebs they have photographers following them all the time. Katie imo is a nice person she treats the film crew with treats every friday how nice is that? Katie has done nice things for people long before she hired this new pr rep. My cousins live near her parents and have nothing but nice things to say about them.

Elisabeth

- elisabeth on June 2nd, 2007

I hope I don’t offend but it seems like anything Katie does is taken as a careful PR stunt. How was she to know these people would call a magazine to mention her kindness?

Tom may be a whackjob but that doesn’t mean Katie is as well. If anything, she is a woman who is living out her childhood dream of marrying her pinup hunk and having his child. Suri sounds like a sweet a polite little girl and Katie sounds kind and sweet.

- Mary-Helen on June 2nd, 2007

Idyla,

FYI Tom doesn’t “believe PPD can be cured with a dose of Ron Hubbard”. Yes he did criticize Brooke Shield about her PPD WAY BACK WHEN, basically when he didn’t have a clue about what he was talking about and he did admit it and said sorry for that many times since. Brooke’s family and his have actually grown quite close now so why bring that old story up again? Have you never said anything stupid that you later regretted? Never made a mistake? People should take a good look at themselves and their lives before they go and criticize others just for the sake of criticizing them.

And Katie doesn’t sound or appear “crazy” at all. She is just a young mom who adores her child and her family and who is very happy with her life. And who was obviously brought up with good manners!

- daisy chain on June 2nd, 2007

He is a Scientologist. So, apparently, is she. They do not believe in psychiatric drugs, ever. I’m sure he’s sorry it all blew up the way it did, but I assure you, he still believes no woman should take psychiatric drugs. But, you’re right. Katie is giving ice-cream Fridays on the set. Tom and Katie are insanely happy. Suri smiled at an infant in a clothing store. And why do we know these things? Because her PR person wants us to. I don’t actually care about any of this, but I am amazed at what a fifteen-thousand dollar a month publicity person can do for ones image.

- ldyla on June 2nd, 2007

Idyla- We know about Suri smiling in the store because the STORE told People magazine. I highly doubt the PR person forced the store to tell about the incident. The store choose to because they thought the thank you note was sweet, and they thought Suri and Katie were nice people. This is one incident that I honestly don’t think any PR person had a thing to do with. Katie went to the store for the same reason the rest of us would: Because she wanted to!

As for Tom’s PPD comment, I completely agree with Daisy Chain. He made that comment OVER FOUR YEARS AGO for goodness sake! It is way past time for people to forgive and forget! If Brooke was able to, the rest of us should be able to as well. And just because Tom’s a Scientologist doesn’t mean that he doesn’t believe in Physchiatric drugs. Supposably Scientologists don’t believe in breastfeeding either, and they believe in something called “Barely Formula” instead. However, Suri was breastfed for the first several months of her life! So it is very possible that now that Tom is better educated on PPD and physciatric drugs, he has changed his views. Personally, I am willing to bet that both Katie AND Tom are wonderful people to be around!

To be truthful, Tom’s comment about Brooke was made two years ago, in May 2005.

- Annoynomus on June 2nd, 2007

If you don’t care about this then why are you responding to this post? And yes any publicist can make anyone’s image its their job don’t just limit it to Tom/Katie. This is done for Brangelina and every other celebrity out there.

- CF(* on June 2nd, 2007

Annoynomus said: However, Suri was breastfed for the first several months of her life! So it is very possible that now that Tom is better educated on PPD and physciatric drugs, he has changed his views. Personally, I am willing to bet that both Katie AND Tom are wonderful people to be around!

What makes you think they’re “wonderful people to be around?” Tom acts like a lunatic in public, not to mention what we hear about his private life. I doubt he’s “changed his views” at all. People like him don’t just suddenly see the light. He may have made nice with Brooke to try to save his image. I think it’s all about damage control now.

- TwinMom on June 3rd, 2007

I think it is very sweet of the store owner to go out of their way to make Suri a gift. And, not only that, but to have Katie send them a thank-you note for doing so just shows how thoughtful she is. =)

- Erin on June 3rd, 2007

Can we please not turn this into a Scientology debate? That’s not what this is about for crying out loud.

Growing up my mother started me with writing thank you notes in preschool. Just little two or three word sentences and she’s do the rest. She continued insisting that I write them all the way until I graduated high school even though as a teenager I would complain and say I really didn’t want to or think they were necessary. Now as an adult it’s something I make sure I do (and I make sure my husband does to!). I might have thought it was pointless at the time but now I understand why my mother thought it so important and in an age of text messages and e-mails, people really appreciate it when you take the time to sit down and pen out a thank you. When my children are old enough you can bet I’ll be handing them the pen and paper! Good for Kate.

- Jessica on June 3rd, 2007

Jessica- I agree with you. I hate how every post about Tom and Katie gets some negative comments about Scientology.

TwinMom- I think Tom and Katie are probably wonderful to be around because I want to give them the benefit of the doubt. As some other commenters have said, it is well-known that Katie has been known as a very nice person since before she became famous. As for their private life, keep in mind that most of what we have heard about it has come from tabloids. Therefore, at least 99 percent of it probably is not true.
As far as Tom acting like a lunatic, I wish people would give the guy a break. He is a Scientologist and has different views than most people. What’s wrong with that? I myself don’t agree with some Scientology beliefs, but I am not going to crticize Tom, Katie, or any other Scientologist for having them. Just because someone has different, maybe even unconventional beliefs is no reason to criticize them. We don’t need to agree with Tom’s beliefs, but that doesn’t mean he is crazy or bad or wrong to have them!

- Annoynomus on June 3rd, 2007