Feliz Navidad!
Nollaig Shona Dhuit!
Joyeux Noël!
Zalig Kerstfeest!
Fröhliche Weihnachten!
Buon Natale!
Milad Mubarak!
Mo’adim Lesimkha!
Gëzuar Krishlindjet!
Eftihismena Christougenna!
Sretan Bozic!
Merii Kurisumasu!
Sing dan fiy loc!
Sung Tan Chuk Ha!
Kung His Hsin Nien Bing Chu Shen Tan!
Chuc Mung Giang Sinh!
Sawasdee Pee Mai!
Merry Christmas!
in ten days anyway. Until then … I was going to write “Bah Humbug!” but I’m too tired to feel that strongly. Neither am I interested in dumping snow on someone else’s good time. I’ve spent a good chunk of my working life in retail or customer service jobs and this is a busy, busy time of year. At my station, we carriers are starting work at six am (start time is normally seven), grabbing all the large packages that the clerks have sorted and taking them out for delivery in the dark and rain.

It’s actually kind of fun. Just delivering parcels is simpler than the usual combo of mail, parcels, magazines, flyers and everything else. I’m working my own route so I know all the addresses, have keys to all the buildings and know how to arrange delivery order for highest efficiency. There are usually a few large packages that didn’t get sorted before I left that still need delivery with the mail, small parcels, magazines, flyers and everything else but only a few. Regular delivery goes much faster when I can sort, carry and deliver the small parcels with the rest of the mail into the mailboxes and not have to also schlep the larger parcels to someone’s porch, or worse, up three flights of stairs and down a long hallway. I’d be happy if we continued this arrangement after the holidays.

More parcels means longer hours. I’m continuing the habit of writing when I first awake but I’ve got less time to do it before I have to uniform up. And I’ve got less energy to draw after work.

Sooooo … I really do hope y’all are enjoying yourselves. The great thing about delivering packages is that my customers actually want them. The rest of the mail – the bills, the ads, the catalogs and Red Plums? They’re usually less excited about that. Parcels though, that’s stuff they asked for or that someone they like has sent them. At least at this time of year I feel like I’m presenting folks with things they welcome rather than more paper for them to recycle.

Mugshots

Today’s process GIF – Princess Ozma is a cat person. A big cat person. Or person who likes really big cats. Here she’s flanked by the so-called Cowardly Lion and the always Hungry Tiger.

This design can be found:
On a mug in my Zazzle store.
On a bunch of schtuff in my Redbubble store.

That’s it for this week. Thanks for enduring my complaints. Feel free to send me yours.

See you in seven!