Merry Christmas

It's only September, but my Christmas cards are all set to be mailed.  Much earlier this year I did the painting which was to be used for the card, and I went to a local printer to have them printed.  Then, a couple week ago, I printed off the address labels, and created new return-address stickers.  Those have the address in Miami that I have been assigned by the private mail service that will deliver my mail to Mexico.  (My mail will go to Florida and from there sent via UPS to an office in Mexico City.)  I also printed off a short note to enclose in the cards giving everyone my new contact information.  I was ready to make them out, something which I accomplished over the course of several evenings.

Next, I went to the post office to buy stamps.  Obviously, this year's Christmas stamps are not yet available.  However, they had something even better.  This month the U.S. Postal Service issued a new booklet of Forever Stamps featuring piñatas.  Perfect!

With the cards ready to go, I took them to my friend Gayle.  I always send out my Christmas cards the day after Thanksgiving, and mine are always the first to be received.  This year, I will have made the move to Mexico long before Thanksgiving.  But Gayle kindly offered to send them out for me at the usual time.  So, for this year at least, the Christmas card tradition will continue.  For the coming years, I will have to investigate how expensive it will be to send cards via my private mail service.