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October, Christmas, and Ships
Last Thursday I would have sworn it was Friday. When Friday dawned I was highly disappointed. I did quite a bit of work over the prior weekend, which is likely why the days ran together and the week seemed extra long. I did very little work this weekend so hopefully this week will feel more normal. Whatever normal actually is. And now there’s an entire week left in October. Hasn’t it been going on for about seven weeks now? It sure feels like it. But that may just be me.
In other news, the countdown to Christmas has official began, at least according to Hallmark. And apparently to me. I’m prepping to put up the trees and ordered my cards online Friday evening. I tried to buy them in person at the Hallmark store but apparently all the shipments to stores are delayed because the cards are stuck on one of the ships sitting outside LA.
I hadn’t thought much about that ship situation until it directly impacted me, which is how we handle a lot of things these days. I knew it was going on but didn’t think about what might be on those ships, what might be on them, or how long those items might be delayed. Did y’all know there are more than 100 ships sitting there? I mean wow. Even if they’re able to get more people to help there are only so many ports. Yeah, it’s bad. And I’m reading that it will likely continue into next year. Of course much is blamed on spending habits during the pandemic but it sure feels like there’s got to be more to it than that. I know the President’s administration is working on it but it doesn’t seem like an easy problem to solve. I hope no one is waiting for anything important. I’ve heard that medicine is one of the things that’s sitting out there in the ocean. I’m now wondering if that’s why Kaiser changed my asthma medicine last month.
After I had some time to think about all of this I realized how odd it felt that Hallmark didn’t make their cards in this country. I always assumed they did but again, never thought much about it. But clearly they are not made here, at least not the bulk of the boxed Christmas cards. The ones I ordered online are supposed to arrive by November 2 so they must be coming on an airplane, not a ship. It’s probably different when an individual orders. Or maybe they won’t come until December…who knows?! It’s definitely a new kind of world we’re living in.
All of this makes me want to shop local for everything else or from places I know have the product on hand in the US.
Speaking of Christmas cards (and my annual Christmas letter)…I had a bit of a backup hard drive failure and have not yet recovered the data. One of the things on there was my Christmas list and I’ve lost a lot of addresses. If you would like to get a card/letter this year, please EMAIL me your address (don’t reply or put it in the comments). My email is cmedders at gmail dot com.
I do realize there are two holidays, and one day of recognition, before we get to Christmas, but y’all know Christmas takes up a lot of space. And that I don’t really celebrate Halloween. I do love Thanksgiving, and am always thankful to honor our Veteran’s on November 11. But I can guarantee that my trees will be up in the next two weeks. I’m ready.
Okay, everyone. Hope you have a great Monday and a great week ahead! Only one more week ‘til November.
Image by Marleen Kuiper from Pixabay