FALMOUTH -- Stephen Jackson was dressed in dark blue instead of jolly red and his vehicle powered by gasoline instead of reindeer, but on Wednesday he got about as close as anyone to being Santa Claus.

Jackson, 58, is the U.S. Postal Service letter carrier for a neighborhood of quiet streets and tidy homes on Mackworth Point. Shortly before 10 a.m. on the biggest delivery day of the year for the postal service, Jackson headed out from the Rand Road Carrier Annex off Portland's Brighton Avenue in a truck brimming with boxes and greeting cards for delivery to the 275 homes and a handful of businesses along his route.

It is a job that Jackson said gives him an immense amount of pleasure. "You are bringing them packages and letters from friends they may not have seen for a while," Jackson said.

Jackson, who lives in New Gloucester, was one of hundreds of letter carriers who fanned out Wednesday across 33,000 square miles in Maine, just 30 square miles less than the territory covered by carriers in the other five New England states combined. In under seven hours they were expected to deliver more than 4.49 million pieces of mail across the state compared the 1.9 million pieces they deliver on an average July day.

It is a feat that takes precise planning, efficiency and endurance.

"Our main goal is to get the mail to our customers and you try to do it timely," said Timothy Mayo, manager of customer services at the Rand Road facility.

Jackson's day started when he arrived at the annex at 7:15 a.m. along with the other 94 carriers and five mail box collectors. They, along with 56 carriers out of the South Portland postal annex, deliver mail within in the 041 zone, which includes Portland, South Portland, nearby islands and Falmouth. The Rand Road carriers also deliver mail in Westbrook and Scarborough.

It took about 90 minutes to organize the letters, packages, and "flats," which are the oversized pieces that cannot be sorted by machine. Poised at his work station, Jackson inserted the flats into cubby holes, one for each delivery address, to organize them before bundling them up in sequence. He then piled them all, again in sequence, into a large orange cart.

All the while he kept an eye on the time. He has a series of deadlines to make and will check in with a scanner about eight times a day at various bar codes placed on private mailboxes and other spots along his route.

Suddenly it was rush hour at the annex. Dozens of carts rattled by on the way to the delivery trucks parked out back. Jackson carefully packed his truck, stacking packages in the sequence in which they would be delivered, along with the hundreds of flats and letters.

After a 10-minute break to smooth on sun block, eat a sandwich and make the first of three daily calls to his wife, Betsy, Jackson set to work in his neighborhood.

A letter carrier for 21 years, Jackson, gave up the Portland route he held for 10 years for flatter terrain in Falmouth this summer to save his knees. Now he climbs about 1,200 fewer steps and is surrounded by views of Mackworth Island and Casco Bay.

"This is the most incredible route," he said.

In just six months Jackson has become familiar with the driveways and yards, people and pets he encounters during his day. He knows people's names, what magazines they read and how often they order Netflix. He alerts authorities if he finds anything suspicious or abnormal. He knows which driveways not to back up into because there are children at home. He swings by the mail box of frail homeowners even when there is no mail, just to make sure they have not left out a letter to be delivered. His customers say they find him invariably pleasant and smiling.

"He's great. He knows all our names and our pets names," said Jennifer Curran.

Around the corner two different homeowners present Jackson with gifts. U.S. Postal rules allow him to accept non-cash gifts of up to $20 in value. He said he takes home a lot of cookies, which are greatly appreciated.

The homeowners say they do it because they appreciate Jackson, who provides a bright spot in their day and an extra set of eyes making sure nothing is amiss.

"He is a good boy. You picked a nice one," Sheila Donaldson said to the photographer and reporter following him around.