Bethlehem 2015

Replica of the first Christmas cachet from Bethlehem, CT.
This over-sized replica hangs in the lobby of the Post Office.

Bethlehem. I have made the trek here to mail my Christmas cards for about each of the last 20 years. (One of these days, I should research that). The attraction is the annual cachet plus the "Bethlehem" postmark. More background can be found in my 2014 post or another's blog post that includes some illustrations of the post office and the town of Bethlehem, CT. Below are some pictures I took this year of the lobby inside the post office.

This is the west side of the lobby where much of the stamping occurs.
Note the baskets on the tables (filled with rubber stamps) and the green ink pads.

The is the east side of the lobby.
 Finished/stamped cards are placed in gray trays at the left.
The door leads to the sales counter.
Note the table at the right with cachet rubber stamps and green ink.

This poster shows all the current cachets. It is located  to the right
of the door (turn left when you enter). Each cachet is numbered in
chronological order. #1 is at the top (of the tree).

Usually (but not always), I have traveled to Bethlehem on a Saturday because it was a day off. However, this year I went on a Wednesday because I wasn't ready with my cards and "Holiday Letter." Since I had plenty of unused (paid) time off (i.e., PTO) I didn't mind taking off from work.  I spent the morning creating my "letter" (with a little help from the "Spirit") and then worked on assembling the cards, envelopes, address labels, letters, and stamps. Fortunately, I had purchased the stamps early this year. Sadly, the USPS did not create a religious stamp for this year, so I used a Madonna & Child stamp from an earlier year that was still available.

Typically, it would take me about an hour to drive to Bethlehem (CT is a small state) but this year it took an extra half hour. Boy, was I fuming. Highway construction and mall traffic were the main culprits I think. Luckily, I made it before closing time (and that lobby hours had been extended an extra half hour).

The 2015 cachet (but, see below...).

After arriving at the post office, my first task was to stamp all my envelopes with this year's cachet (see above). At the time, I thought it was a no brainer. But now as I write this post, I discovered that there appears to be an "extra" cachet. Last year's cachet was #78 (I thought). So this year's should be #79; but I assumed #80 was this year's (especially since it has "2015" on it). So either there are two cachets this year (#79 and #80) or I got mixed up earlier. (Some might concur that I have long been mixed up).

On the way home, I continued a somewhat recent tradition by stopping for "lunch" (it was actually dinner time by then) at G's Burgers. I had a cheese burger, sweet potato fries, and soda. Perhaps because I was alone (again), it didn't seem to taste as good as in the past.

As I mentioned in my "Holiday Letter," I consider being able to mail my Christmas cards from Bethlehem a tremendous blessing. Going to Bethlehem is an opportunity to remind me (and others I hope) of the true meaning and origin of Christmas.

Autograph manuscript of first stanza of O Little Town of Bethlehem.
Benson, Louis F. Studies of Familiar Hymns.
 Philadelphia: The Westminster Press. 1903. Public Domain.

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Links:

http://wikitravel.org/en/Bethlehem

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cachet

http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2014/12/bethlehem-2014.html

http://www.marthahallkelly.com/lets-time-travel-back-to-christmas-at-the-bethlehem-post-office

http://www.ci.bethlehem.ct.us

http://ricketwrite.blogspot.com/2014/12/bethlehem-2014.html

http://www.gsburgers.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manuscriptolittletownofbethlehem.png

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Written Wednesday 23 December 2015.