'Tis the season

How's your holiday shopping coming along?  That well?  I have to admit, I'm a little envious!

I kid, ours is going pretty well.  It starts kinda early because, well, we have to.  Our daughter and her family live in the Denver suburbs, so shipping comes into play. And we all know that there's LOTS of stuff being shipped this year, whether by individuals and families, merchants big and small, or the usual online sellers of just about everything!

We got our box together for the Colorado branch of the family along about Thanksgiving, and I took it to an area post office that weekend to process it (using the automated kiosk, which I prefer to the indifferent staff at the counter most of the time) and to potentially ship it, depending on whether it would fit into the package receptacle.

Weighed and measured it, accepted the weight and was stunned to see the two options I was presented for shipping this package (which, incidentally, only weighed 3.5 pounds).  Neither was inexpensive, shall we say, and to add insult to injury, the system required a verification of the recipient's identity.  The final insult was that this particular post office's parcel chute was blocked or otherwise locked, so it would have to wait until Monday.

To my utter astonishment, the package arrived within a day of when we were advised it would, which is rather astounding.  Worth mentioning that our record of shipping parcels to our daughter's current address had been spotty, at best, but has been worse since the current leadership took over management of the United States Postal Service, a subject best put aside for another day!

Christmas cards went out right around Thanksgiving as well.  They required more postage than last year (see comment above about the USPS) but they were sent and received and enjoyed by many who've responded thus far.

So some of the shopping is done, but with five grandchildren, that means we have three more to shop for.  We put the older ones to work identifying things they would like to receive and that helped, we made some progress over the past couple of days.

Gee, I sound like we're trying to take a hill or something.  "Made some progress?"

I decided not to worry about a budget this year, because my wife and I always wind up with one substantial argument when that budget is disregarded.  And now I sit here realizing I have one friend with whom I still exchange gifts, and I have nothing for him yet!

Well, that's how it's going here, at least so far.  Hope you're able to find THE perfect gift for each person on your list!