Here's how you can get this year's special Santa Claus, Indiana, postmark

For collectors, the annual Santa Claus, Indiana, Post Office holiday postmark is as big a tradition as the trees and stockings.

This year's postmark is now available, U.S. Postal Service officials said Thursday.

This famous small-town post office is the only one in the world with the Santa Claus name and receives over 400,000 pieces of mail in December. For the sake of comparison, the Santa Claus post office averages about 13,000 pieces of mail the other 11 months each year.

The Santa Claus Post Office has offered the unique postmark every holiday season since 1983. Each year, a local student designs the picture postmark for use on Christmas cards and other mail from the Santa Claus Post Office during the holiday season.

The 2022 postmark is available only in Santa Claus, Indiana, on working days between Dec. 1 and Dec. 24. This year's postmark was drawn by Macey Bolin, daughter of Todd and Erica Bolin of Santa Claus, Indiana. Macey is a freshman at the University of Southern Indiana.

2022 Santa Claus, Indiana, Post Office postmark guidlines

• Allow at least a 2-inch-by-4-inch space in the stamp area for the picture postmark;
• Apply postage to cards or letters before bringing or mailing them to the post office;
• If you wish to mail Christmas cards to the post office, package them – with postage stamps already on them – in a sturdy envelope or box, and mail to: Postmaster, P.O. Box 9998, Santa Claus, IN 47579-9998;
• The picture postmark is available on working days between Dec. 1 and Dec. 24;
• The picture postmark must be requested by the postal customer;
• To ensure a good postmark imprint, do not enclose large or bulky items in your holiday mail (Ex: reindeer food, snowflakes, glitter, stickers, etc.);
• There is no charge for postmarking; however, there is a limit of 50 picture postmarks (hand cancellations) per person per day.