Here's how I see this.
1...maybe this is trouble and maybe not
2...We've just "got over" Thanksgiving, when many people were traveling, and are "just getting" out of a major weather snafu where lots of people were stranded. Others had related issues, and may be bailing out friends or family, or going to/ from
3....This IS the holiday season, people out, shopping, our time is occupied
4....MANY of us on here have health issues or at the age where a trip to the EM could happen any minute.
heres how I see it ;)
1...it would be some very strange trouble that would allow the seller to be online and on the forum but prevent him from sending updates and keeping some open lines of communication with the buyer
2...we did just get over thanksgiving and Christmass will soon be upon us but this should come as no surprise. neither one of these date sneak up on us and personally I don't think they should prevent us from sending what we promised we would. I know that in my case I actually spend more time at the post office this time of year then any other and it is actually easier to ship stuff out since in heading that way anyway.
if for whatever reason I would decide to shack myself up for the holidays and stay away from the post office I think common sense would dictate I don't make any sales during that time either.
3...this kinda follows the thought I had at point 3, if I know I wont be in a position to ship anything I simply wouldn't sell anything or make it abundantly clear that the part would not ship until January first and I probably would not ask for payment until then either
4...like I said in point 1, the OP mentioned the seller has been online at least twice since. I am a very reasonable person and I am sure that goes for most of the people on here. accidents happen, life happens and most days we don't get round to doing all we set out to do
the cars we love are 40 years old and that alone makes our average age pretty high. as rustyradrod mentioned we don't all have the luxury of being able to run out and drop parts off for shipment as quickly as we would like
as long as we manage to keep communications going none of this would be a big deal
it is great to see how many people are willing to step in the gap here and help the OP out
that is what makes this forum so great