The US postal service did a wonderful job. They had Christmas day delivery for express mail packages. I don't think they promoted it enough. Yes, the US Postal Service did a great job. But, yes, they don't seem to have advertised or publicized what they were doing.
People still have the expectation that it is much slower.
The postal service gives them those nice boxes for free, too. It's one thing to set expectations conservatively. If eBay were to certify that you could turn credit card sales around rapidly, with delivery in 2-3 days, you could sell right up to Dec. 22. By the way, Amazon also was terrific regarding shipment. They, too, don't seem to have mentioned, marketed this great service.