Chins Up, Washingtonians. The Postmark's Back.

Break out the holly, as well as the last-minute holiday cards. The nation's capital has received an early Christmas present: the restoration of the Washington, D.C., postmark.

Out with the old -- the SUBURBAN MD and SOUTHERN MD postmarks -- and in with WASHINGTON, DC for at least 90 percent of the stamped mail originating in the District.

The news was announced yesterday by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), who stood in the lobby of the National Capitol Station Post Office to declare that she had holiday greetings for the city.

"This is a very good reason to say 'happy holidays,' not only from me but from the Postal Service," she said with the District's postmaster, Yverne P. Moore, at her side.

A recent article in The Washington Post revealed that the overwhelming majority of the District's mail, processed in a facility in Gaithersburg since the 2001 anthrax attacks that killed two D.C. postal workers, was getting a Maryland postmark.

Ever sensitive to Washington's lesser-than status in Congress in regard to voting rights and statehood, Norton decided to seek a solution to the near-disappearance of the District's postal identifier.

"We're often on the outside looking in, like we're trying to get in, though we're American citizens," she said. Statehood might still be a dream, but at least the D.C. postmark is coming back.

Norton credited the post office with working -- even during the busy holiday season and while trying now to maintain a 97 percent on-time delivery rate -- to change the system for processing the city's mail. Moore said the post office has instituted a system in which most District mail is routed to cancellation machines programmed to print the Washington, D.C., postmark.

Previously, at the Gaithersburg facility, the D.C. mail was mixed with Maryland mail, and all of it was routed through eight cancellation machines, only three of which printed the D.C. postmark. In an experiment, The Post mailed 235 envelopes from every quadrant in the District -- from 22 Zip codes, from post offices, blue boxes and mail slots of corporations and apartment buildings -- and only 24 letters were delivered with a Washington, D.C., postmark.

Moore said that four of the eight machines at the Gaithersburg facility are now printing the D.C. postmark.

"Although the District of Columbia postmark never went away, we are pleased to work with Congresswoman Norton to take steps to ensure that nearly all District mail receives the postmark," Moore said.

About 10 percent of the 1 million pieces of mail generated daily in the District arrives at the post office after regular business hours. To get the late mail canceled and off to the recipients most efficiently, it is trucked to the closer Capitol Heights facility, which is not equipped to issue a D.C. postmark.

So although not all of Washington's mail will be postmarked accordingly, "90 percent of the mail on average will go through the right machine," Moore said.

Norton said she will push for a system to be developed for the Capitol Heights center. "We certainly hope we can get 100 percent of the mail stamped Washington, D.C., if, in fact, it came from Washington," Norton said.

Norton called the postmark "a proud symbol of our own identity" and "a sign of patriotism and prestige." Moore somberly agreed.

"We do not want to minimize the importance of this great city to our nation," she said.