Last week was the busiest of the year for post offices in Snoqualmie and North Bend.

Monday, Dec. 15, was pegged as the busiest day of 2008, but lines at local postal counters continued in the run-up to Christmas.

“We’ve got a line going out the door,” North Bend Postmaster Pat DeVere said Wednesday, Dec. 17. “Yesterday was very busy, today continues to be busy. All windows are staffed.”

Those windows were expected to stay hopping for the next few days, as holiday packages arrived for pick-up.

“It’s just been a continuing onslaught of packages,” said North Bend resident Bob Kaake, delivering some of the last of his outgoing Christmas mail. “There’s been a fair amount of lines, it’s been busy.”

Kaake said it felt great to get his packages off to friends and family.

“It’s a way to keep in touch,” he said.

Ryan Hooper of North Bend weighed his packages Wednesday at the North Bend post office. To him, the big rush was still to come, as the bulk of Christmas packages arrived.

North Bend resident Diane Lane said the lines were as busy as she expected.

“I was ahead of the game,” said Lane, who aided her Christmas mailing by doing some shopping online.

Local post offices were prepared for the winter storm that hit in the middle of the week.

When snow arrived Wednesday afternoon, the North Bend post office chained up eight vehicles delivering mail to higher-elevation neighborhoods in the Valley, including Snoqualmie Ridge and Wilderness Rim.

With Christmas nearing, residents still have an opportunity to get presents in the mail to family members in Washington on Christmas Eve. You might have to use express mail, though. Some larger urban areas will have mail delivery on Christmas. The Upper Valley post offices, however, will not have Christmas Day delivery.

When is the best time to pick up a package at the local post office? Try the morning and mid-afternoon. The busiest times at the Snoqualmie and North Bend post office are generally when school gets out, and just before closing time at Snoqualmie, around 4:30 p.m.

DeVere reminds residents that North Bend has a will-call window where clerks are more than happy to hand out packages in the early morning hours. The post office staff arrive as early as 4 a.m.

• Contact the U.S. Postal Service at 1 (800) 275-8777 or visit the postal service Web page at www.usps.com.