Posting Good Cheer : Inglewood : * ZIP: 90305 : * Number of people in line upon arrival: 10 : * Number of people in line upon departure: 10

It must have been one heck of a party.

Probably everyone in Inglewood was there Friday night, dancing to oldies and having a good time.

That must be it: A massive community celebration that lasted until the wee hours of Saturday morn. Then after the party, everyone was tired, so hardly anybody got up and went to the post office.

If there wasn’t a party the night before, then where was everybody? Where was the usual crowd of folks dropping their bundles while they scribble addresses on brown paper packages, trying to finish before it’s their turn at the window?

Even before going inside, it was clear that a startlingly positive postal experience was in the making. There were several parking spaces right in front.

Inside, four windows were open for service. Colored Christmas lights were strung across the tops of the windows (although only the segment over the last two windows worked). No one had more than one package.

The only glitch came when a woman wanted, had to have, African violet stamps and it appeared that the post office might be out of them. Finally, postal worker Loretta Pearson, at the first window, found some and the storm that threatened, passed.

Pearson, wearing a Christmas wreath pin, smiled and charged me $2.59 to send my package. Ten more people were in line behind me.

“This isn’t bad, but it’ll pick up later in the day,” she said. “Then it won’t stop until Christmas Eve.”

How does Christmas compare with tax time for long lines of harried customers frightened of missing a deadline?

Pearson seemed shocked.

“Well, you know, it’s not the same. It’s Christmas! You’ve got to keep your Christmas spirit.”

Total time: 6 minutes