At the beginning of November I signed up for Winter Wishes, a program organized by New York Cares that provides you with a Christmas list of a local child whose family may not have a lot of money to buy presents. When you sign up they make it very clear that you are making a commitment to a child and that they don't do backups, so if you don't send a gift the child may not receive anything at all.
I was really excited about Winter Wishes. So I waited for my wish list. And I waited and waited. My letter finally arrived on December 16th. "Cutting it a little close, Winter Wishes" I thought. When I opened the envelope I was horrified to find that all gifts were to arrive by December 10th. Oh no! Little Shamel of Long Island City wasn't going to get a present and it was all my fault! Wait! It was all the Post Office's fault. The letter was post marked November 17th. It was a month late! Now I'm not usually one to call customer service and complain. I know mistakes happen. But I have to draw the line at mistakes that threaten to ruin Christmas. Not on my watch! So I called the Post Office and calmly explained how they had destroyed the holiday hopes and dreams of a little boy.
Actually holiday hopes and dreams were not destroyed. The Christmas spirits were smiling on me and Shamel. The letter with his wish list also included the phone number of his after school program. Luckily a nice woman named Veronica was still in her office at 7:30 PM. I explained to her what happened and she said that if I could get the gift there the next day I might not ruin Christmas for Shamel. Ok, that isn't what she said but that is what I heard. As I said, the Christmas spirits were smiling and I luckily had the next day off of work so I was able to buy Shamel the number one thing on his list, a ripstick (I had to Google what this was. I had no idea. Shamel is much cooler than me). I raced it out to Long Island City, arriving 30 minutes before gift opening time.
I'm very happy I was able to hold up my end of the Winter Wishes bargain. Thanks to no help from the Post Office. Merry Christmas Shamel!
Song of the Day
Today's song is the best modern Christmas song, Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You."
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