It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Today was a very busy and wonderful day at the office. We greeted and oriented our 6 new missionaries from the States and enjoyed getting to know them. There was plenty to do and the day flew by.
The office elders had gone on mail run early hoping to be back around 1 for the pizza from PaPa John's and the homemade cookies that Sister Sorenson always sends. It was around 3 when they showed up with LOTS of mail. Three huge Santa-sized bags filled with 24 packages for missionaries. WOW. The most ever. Now the mail center REALLY looks like a post office with packages everywhere. I imagine that it will continue to be busy until after the first of the year as families mail packages to their missionaries.
It took me a while to take them out of the bag, label the city they are to go to and start the process of letting family back home know their packages to their missionaries have arrived safely. Now it will take a little while to figure out how to best get the packages to their destinations. I rely on missionaries coming into the office for one reason or another, to take packages to their cities.
That is definitely a blessing of working in the office. We don't have to wait for our packages. We just carry them to our apartment. :o) (the elders offered to help me, but I wanted to do it myself). It provides a LITTLE exercise anyway to be moving around more than I generally do in the office.
Is it really possible that Christmas really is right around the corner? Is it really possible that we have been here for nearly 8 months? Wow.