A holiday mailing deadline’s already upon us, as parcel-post letters and packages going to some overseas soldiers must be in the mail by today (Monday). Post Office spokesman Rich Watkins says while many people like the idea of sending a card to a soldier far away, some of the rules have changed. The Department of Defense rule now is that all mail, whether letters or packages, must be addressed to individual service members. No more sending off a card to “any service member” as volunteers did up till a few years ago. Still, the post office has new ways to make mailing easier, including “mil-packs” of handy containers, shipping labels and pre-paid mailers that will carry anything you pack in, for one price. Go online to U-S-P-S-dot-com, and he says you’ll find links to the military-care kit, to ZIP codes for any address including military APO and FPO codes for mailing to soldiers on active duty, and some great holiday shipping ideas as well. Wrap all the gifts well for mailing to be sure they get there — and get there safely. He advises using plenty of bubble wrap or packing peanuts when you begin to wrap up that gift, secure the label so it can’t come loose, and put an extra label with your return address inside the package. Other military deadlines and other mailing dates are coming up fast, and you can find more info on those at the post-office website, too.