Christmas stamps

By Jeff Becraft

Last December, we ran out of stamps. It was late one night and I decided to go to the post office and use their self-service station to get some more stamps.

What I thought was going to happen was I would walk in and deal with some sort of vending machine operation, almost like a Coke machine, pay for the stamps, and out pops a roll of stamps. What I found was something totally different.

First off, there was a line of people… so I guess there were other people that needed postage, and so I am standing in line. I was beginning to see that my quick trip to the post office was going to be longer than I thought.

When I was getting closer to the machine, the man in front of me says I can go before him because he had a lot of postage to take care of. (He did not realize who he was talking with or the shenanigans that would follow.)

When I get to the computer-like machine, there are all kinds of hoops that I have to jump through to even approach buying some stamps. (I’m thinking, “I’m not flying overseas here… I’m just buying some stamps.”) I am going from window after window to finally get to what I want to purchase. When I let the machine know that I want 100 stamps, the machine prints, not spits out, but prints 10 sheets of Christmas stamps.

This is taking a very long time… and now there’s a line of people behind me. I turn around and start apologizing to them that it is taking so long.

So, for all of 2026, particularly with the price of stamps these days, I have been sending out things with Christmas stamps on them.

Now I know we just went through July, and that’s the whole Christmas-in-July thing, and movies where people are acting like they’re drinking coffee out of empty cups, and you can’t see their breath even though it’s snowing outside. And I know it is now August, and pretty soon stores will be putting out Christmas stuff… uh… starting next week?… and so I realize all that. And I am all about celebrating things.

But none of that really has anything to do with me sending out items with a Christmas stamp on it. The reality is that the Christmas stamps is what I’ve got.

Too many times in life we belabor about what we don’t have and allow that to shape our attitude and even determine our actions… instead of being thankful for what we do have and making use of that and moving forward.

So… it is August… and if someone gets something from me in the mail, I hope they enjoy the Christmas stamp.

Jeff Becraft is the Director of Our Place of Hope located in Columbia, South Carolina, where people find encouragement to regain meaning, purpose, and hope for their lives. Jeff has dedicated much of his life to helping shift the vision of people’s lives. If you would like Jeff to speak to your group or event, you can connect with him at  [email protected].