Canada Post is working to spread some holiday cheer again this year to Canadian troops deployed overseas.

From today until January 11th, family and friends of Canadian Forces members can send letters or parcels to them free of charge through Canada Post. It's the seventh year that this program has been offered, and Canada Post spokesman John Caines says it's been a success so far with about 40,000 kilograms of mail sent last year.

"The majority of that was through the free mail program, [and] last I spoke with the folks at DND they were very happy," said Caines. "They relayed to us that the troops that were serving overseas, particularly during the Christmas holidays, are really glad to get this stuff from the people that they really miss this time of year."

The mail headed to the war zones doesn't get there through Canada Post, but you can drop letters or parcels off at retail locations or at your nearest Canadian Forces Base. Cairns says because of limited space on the military aircraft that takes the mail over, they can't say exactly when it will arrive.

Canada currently has about 1,250 troops overseas in Afghanistan, Haiti, the Middle East and the South Sudan, as well as on some Canadian ships. (jk)