SAN FRANCISCO – No need for alarm. That clatter and rattle some households may hear before the coffee is brewed, as early as 5 a.m., is not Santa getting an early start.

It’s really his postal helpers, our mail carriers, hitting the street before the break of dawn in order to get everyone’s packages delivered with great speed.

The jingle and jangle so familiar this time of year is part of the hustle and bustle that Post Offices experience during the peak holiday rush.

To keep the promise to make it a “Priority Yule” and deliver the best holiday for everyone, carriers will be out making early morning deliveries in many communities throughout the San Francisco postal district.

“As the rush of the holiday season gains momentum, the Postal Service needs to keep pace with it,” said San Francisco District Manager Raj Sanghera. “The fact is parcel volume is high and we want to make sure we meet our commitment to deliver every piece every day.”

The Postal Service is projecting more than 800 million packages to be delivered between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, and 200 million just the week of Dec. 16 to 22, forecasted to be the busiest week of the year.

The notion of the “busiest day” is a thing of Christmas past, due to the early and heavy online shopping.

It is the US Postal Service’s mission to assure that everyone’s precious gifts get delivered in the “nick of time” for yule.

The San Francisco District stretches from Eureka in the north, the north bay, San Francisco, the Peninsula to Mountain View and the coast from Pacifica to Santa Cruz.