The First to Arrive

Thanksgiving Day is just another Thursday in Mexico.  But on that day I received my first Christmas card, and it came all the way from England.

The last time that I had a video chat with my cousin Kevin in the U.K., he told me that he was going to send me a Christmas card the next day so that it would arrive before Christmas.  That was on November 12th, and, true to his word, the postmark on the envelope was November 13th.  What was amazing was that it arrived from all the way across the pond in exactly two  weeks!

For a long time, my opinion of the Mexican postal service has been very negative.  I probably already told you the story that after meeting Alejandro, I sent him a Christmas card from Ohio right after Thanksgiving with the rest of my cards.  The card arrived in time for Easter.  But it seems as if the service has improved.  I have received a number of pieces of mail from the United States that arrived in a month or less.  However, this card from England breaks a record.

On my last trip to Ohio, I gave my friend Frank my Christmas cards to send out the day after Thanksgiving.  It will be interesting to see if my card to Kevin and his family takes longer than two weeks to arrive.  I would laugh if the Mexican postal service is better than the USPS!