Mail Call

Dashu83 via freepik.com

When I was a little kid, I loved getting mail. Oh, who am I kidding? I was well into my adult years before the disappointment of bills overtook the joy of personal mail. More than two decades ago, when I first started writing articles on spec, I eagerly awaited the mail each day, hoping for an acceptance letter, a contributor copy or -- jackpot! -- a check.

I think my delight with deliveries is one of the reasons I love the Christmas season. Sure, a lot of people have switched over to e-cards -- and every year, I swear that next year, I'll join them -- but Christmas cards are not yet obsolete, and finding red and green and silver envelopes among the bills and junk mail is one of the highlights of December.

And you know what else December brings?

Packages!

I'm not a Black Friday shopper and, in addition, I am one of those people who thinks stores should be closed on Thanksgiving so people can be with their families. And yet, I had both hands into some serious online shopping before it hit me that even though I'm shopping from the comfort of my own home, someone else out there on the other end of my Internet connection must be working in order to make my at-home convenience possible.

Oops.

By that time, I'd racked up enough potential presents to make sure that my mail would yield a bounty of boxes for much of the month, assuring that my daily trip to the mailbox (or, in the case of UPS, my front porch) would be worth my while.

Condesign via Pixabay

Some people outgrow Christmas. Most adults have long since stopped marveling over the mail. But these kinds of everyday pleasures still excite me. In January, the mail will return to its usual mix of bills and junk -- perhaps temporarily a tad heavier on the bills -- and so I plan to savor the deliveries of December, along with a few that I suspect will turn up before then.

Happy Cyber Monday. May all your packages be perfect.