LEXINGTON, Ky. — The holiday season has begun and so, too, has the most popular time of the year for post offices in a few communities with Christmas-themed names.

The post offices in Bethlehem, Nazareth and Partridge, Ky., annually receive Christmas cards from all over the world with requests they be canceled and mailed from those locations.

The Bethlehem Post Office has offered a special cancellation during the holidays since 1947, and typically postmarks around 50,000 cards during the season, according to the postal service. This year’s postmark proclaims “Christmas greetings” and shows a picture of the three wise men on camels.

“There is no comparison between the Christmas season and the rest of the year,” Bethlehem Postmaster Susan Leopold said in a statement. “Usually, this office operates with one person. During Christmas, we have three to four volunteers here every day, all day, cancelling letters with the special cancellation.

In Nazareth, Postmaster Norine Masterson canceled more than 16,000 letters last year. This year, she designed a postmark showing the traditional manger scene to pay tribute to the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth ministry, which is celebrating its 200th Christmas.

In Partridge, the post office does not have a special cancellation postmark, but Postmaster Joy Short does use red ink in her date stamp to provide a Christmas cancellation when requested.