Special Delivery

The first postal service that ordinary people could use began back in 1840 when the 'Penny Post' public postal deliveries began. It only cost a half a penny to send Christmas cards. Before that, only very rich people could afford to send anything in the post.

This was one of my stops today. This is our little town post office and it is one of the busiest places at this time of year. Even with all the online ordering I did for Christmas, I still had to mail cards and purchase stamps. The post office employees are not known for being very speedy workers and the lines can be long. I have to take partial blame for having to stand in a long line because I was late getting my cards written out this year. I kept thinking I had more time and I was procrastinating instead of just sitting down and doing it.

We send cards for a few reasons but mostly it is kind, it adds to the festive spirit, it certainly is more meaningful than a Facebook status update and helps us keep in touch with people we don’t necessarily speak to often. They also make nice decorations and give us a chance to work on our penmanship. We don’t really do a lot of handwriting anymore. Everything is done on computers. Of course, some of my cards will be more of a Happy New Year greeting by the time they reach everyone. Next year I’ll hopefully be more organized.