Time is running out to get postcards and packages to loved ones before Christmas. Today is the United States Postal Service’s mail-by date for first-class and priority mail. Your last chance to get mail to friends and family by Christmas is Tuesday, the mail-by date for priority mail express.

Kalona Postmaster Gae Walton says these are suggestions made by the postal service, so if you miss a deadline, your items may still arrive by the 25th.

Wednesday and Thursday were the postal service’s busiest delivery days of the year for cards, letters and packages.