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Two of the busiest post offices during the Christmas season are those in North Pole, Alaska and Santa Claus, Indiana. Both of these post offices help spread Christmas magic by offering special holiday postmarks/cancellations during December. But these postmarks aren’t just for Santa letters. Anyone can request the special postmark to liven up their holiday mailings.

Santa Claus, Indiana, has been offering a picture postmark every year since 1983. Each year’s unique postmark is designed by a local high school art student as part of an annual contest.

“The holiday postmark has become one of the most popular in the nation over the past two decades,” said Santa Claus Postmaster Marian Balbach in a 2008 USPS press release. “Postal patrons world-wide request the picture postmark. Also, many customers traditionally drive hundreds of miles to personally obtain the cancellation on their holiday mail.”

In 2008, the Santa Claus post office expected half a million pieces of mail to come through the office between November 15 and December 20. During the rest of the year, the post office processes only about 13,000 pieces of mail per month.

To get a North Pole or Santa postmark on your envelope(s), simply address and stamp your envelope(s) as you normally would. Then put them all in a bigger envelope and send them to one of the following addresses:

North Pole Christmas Cancellation
Postmaster
5400 Mail Trail
Fairbanks, AK 99709-9999

Santa Postmark
Postmaster
Santa Claus Station
Santa Claus, IN 47579-9998

Make sure you send your envelopes early. The post office should receive them no later than December 15 to ensure delivery to your recipients by Christmas.

To find more pictorial postmarks during Christmas and throughout the year, and to get instructions for obtaining them, see the the “Philately” section of the Postal Bulletin.

(Sources: How to Get a Santa Postmark and North Pole and Other Postmarks.)