Dead woman's holiday card arrives 11 years late

QUINNESEC, Mich. - A Christmas card that showed up in an Upper Peninsula woman's mailbox a day before the holiday turned out to be a late arrival after all: 11 years delayed to be exact.

Lorraine Beauchamp says the envelope was postmarked in 2000 and has a 33-cent stamp, the price of first-class mail 11 years ago. And the sender, her sister-in-law Marion Beauchamp, died in 2010.

"I was afraid to open it," Beauchamp told The Daily News in Iron Mountain. "I can't believe it. I still can't. It was the only card I got that day."

Christmas gift sent in 2010 arrives a year late

Employees at a mail-sorting center in Kingsford said the card could have been stuck for years in a canvas bag, or that Beauchamp could have been looking through old cards and got the one from her sister-in-law mixed up with those.

Beauchamp, 85, lives in Quinnesec in the western Upper Peninsula near Wisconsin. Her late sister-in-law lived about five miles away in Iron Mountain. The card says, "Dear Sis," followed by a Christmas message, and then is signed "Sincerely, Marion."

Beauchamp said she plans to keep it. Her family still can't believe what happened.

"It was just a shock. We are laughing about it, but maybe she's telling me something. ... She was a character. I always liked her," Beauchamp said of her sister-in-law.

[GollyRojer]

I bet an image of Jesus could be seen in the stains and wrinkles of the postman's mail bag.

[Jenna1955]

And the postal service wonders why people use email and pay bills online now!!!

[Raptorsmasher]

That's not a fair comment. The U.S Postal Service has one of the most reliable systems in the world today. You have a much greater risk of having your financial accounts hacked than losing a letter in the mail.

[hg2008-2009]

Sometimes mail falls inside a mail sorting machine and is not retrieved until the machine is moved to another location. Probably is what happened with this card.

[HRPuffinstuff]

No, no, no! Didn't you read, the Post Office says it could have already been mixed in with her other cards? It's NOT THEIR FAULT! Even though, she said it was the only one she received that day. She must be mistaken. They couldn't be at fault. (Remove tongue from cheek).