With Christmas only days away, shops and delivery services are seeing a flurry of last-minute activity from families hoping to send gifts before Christmas day.

Saxon’s Flowers and Gifts in Meridian receives many orders from shoppers in the week leading up to Christmas. Some of the most popular orders include patients sending baskets to their doctors and businesses sending bouquets to their clients.

“We definitely have two-to-three times more orders during (the week before) Christmas than a normal day,” said Kailie Dunlap, a manager at Saxon’s. “People order a lot of centerpieces and poinsettias.”

Dunlap said the flow of business didn’t ease up as the week passed; customers continued to come in requesting last-minute gifts. To accommodate this need, Saxon’s set up a ‘Grab-N-Go’ table for customers.

“They say they forgot or just didn’t have the time and of course we’re there to help,” Dunlap, who has worked eight Christmas seasons at Saxon’s, said. “Up until the 23 we’re going to be taking calls.”

Saxon’s will be closed on Saturday, Dec. 24 and open for limited hours on Dec. 23.

The Postal Service, much like Saxon’s, also experiences an increase in customers during the week before Christmas.

According to a U.S. Postal Service news release from Jackson, the Postal Service anticipated processing and delivering nearly 16 billion letters and packages during the holiday season.

The Postal Service predicted that Dec. 22, would be the heaviest delivery day with more than 30 million packages, the latest numbers available.

For those needing to send a last-minute gift by Christmas, the Postal Service recommends using Priority Mail Express by Dec. 23. Post Offices will not be open on Sunday in Mississippi but many locations in the state will still deliver.