If your mail has been more friendly lately, maybe it’s because someone is being more friendly to the mail.

Crocheted booties have appeared on U.S. Postal Service mailboxes in Woodbury, carefully placed on the front legs as if to keep them snug. The red-and-white socks now warm the mailboxes in front of City Hall and at a nearby Bruegger’s Bagels shop.

The maker of the unique footwear (call them post toasties?) remains unknown. But the footwear makes the mailboxes look cozy and makes passers-by laugh.

“I think it’s charming,” said Kara Rowan of Woodbury, who noticed the booties on her family’s regular trips to Bruegger’s.

She said the mysterious bootie-maker has been dressing up mailboxes for at least a year. In December, booties with a Christmas theme showed up. The ones for February are decorated with hearts.

“The person who does it must have a set of them, and changes them with the season,” Rowan said. She said they are fastened with a little bow in back.

“They are cute,” she said.

Maybe someone thinks loving the mail will reduce the amount of hate mail. Maybe someone’s gone crazy in a long Minnesota winter.

Maybe someone just wants to make people smile.

If that is true, then it has worked on Rowan’s two daughters. Five-year-old Reese likes to see the boots, even though she has declared them “silly.”

Bob Shaw can be reached at 651-228-5433. Follow him at twitter.com/BshawPP.