Last week, U.S. postal leaders

declared Monday would be the service's busiest of the year.

At Fayette's five facilities

the public didn't disappoint. Fayetteville, Tyrone Peachtree City

and Brooks post offices each had lines extending out of the service counter

area and into the main lobby at various times of the day. At the sorting

facility in central Fayette, 290,000 pieces of mail were processed Monday

on their way to destinations in all of Fayette County, Fairburn, Palmetto,

Union City, Senoia and Tyrone.

As Christmas day looms ever

closer, local residents will hustle to the post office in hopes of getting

holiday gifts to loved ones. Locally, carriers will even be delivering

on Christmas Day, said Dan Honea, officer in charge of the Fayetteville

and Peachtree City post offices.

"Even on Christmas Day

we'll be out delivering anything that looks like Christmas,"

Honea said. That includes fruit, express mail packages and "obvious

presents," Honea said.

"We try to put that out

up until the last minute, kinda like Santy Claus," Honea added.

Although dealing with long

lines at the customer service counter is stressful, employees try to stay

pleasant with each other and the customer, said Honea, who has 47 years

in the business.

In Peachtree City, carriers

ran an early route to deliver packages before coming