The North Pole postmark. Download high resolution PDF for reprint.

THE NORTH POLE — He may be able to visit every boy and girl around the world in one night, but Santa relies on the holiday magic of the US Postal Service to deliver his mail.

Parents wishing to have a letter from Santa sent to their children need to follow three simple steps and remember the deadline of Dec. 15.

Parents are encouraged to work with their children while they write letters to Santa so they can pick up a few tips when they later help craft Santa's reply.

Once the reply is written, "Santa's response" should be placed in a stamped envelope addressed to the child.

This envelope should then be placed in a larger, properly stamped, First-Class Mail or Priority Mail envelope and mailed to:

North Pole Christmas Cancellation
Postmaster
5400 Mail Trail
Fairbanks, AK 99709-9998

North Pole postmark requests must arrive in Fairbanks, AK, before Dec. 15. After that date, it is recommended that Priority Mail be used.

Postal elves at the nearby North Pole Post Office will postmark Santa's replies and mail them back to the children.

"Delivering the holidays is what the Postal Service does best," said Delores Killette, vice president and consumer advocate. "Spending time as a family is something we treasure the most this time of year. We're happy to help make the season sparkle."

Parents can ask children to write about why the holiday season is special or identify special memories or achievements of the year. This makes Santa's response more personal to the child.

"These letters also help teach the importance of using a proper address and ZIP Code when writing and sending mail," Killette said. "We expect to deliver 20 billion letters and packages this holiday season, so the proper address is very helpful to us."

Other cities participating in the holiday postmark program include Bethlehem, PA; Garland, UT; Nazareth, MI; Antler, ND; and Snowflake, AZ, among others. Follow the same guidelines used for the North Pole cancellation. Stamped and addressed greeting cards should be sent in a larger envelope addressed to "Postmaster" and include city, state and ZIP Code.

• Click here for a complete list of holiday-sounding postmarks with ZIP codes.

Since 1775, the United States Postal Service and its predecessor, the Post Office Department, have connected friends, families, neighbors and businesses by mail. An independent federal agency that visits more than 144 million homes and businesses every day, the Postal Service is the only service provider delivering to every address in the nation. It receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual revenues of $70 billion, it is the world's leading provider of mailing and delivery services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. The U.S. Postal Service delivers more than 46 percent of the world's mail volume-some 212 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year-and serves ten million customers each day at its 37,000 retail locations nationwide.