by Debra J. Mitchell – United States Postal Service
Special to the Lehigh Acres Gazette
The United States Post Office Department issued its first Christmas stamp in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1962. Customers had requested such a stamp for years; the stamp would be the first in a series of Christmas stamps. Stamps that conveyed a holiday spirit had proved popular during the holidays in previous years, such as the 1958 Forest Conservation stamp showing a deer in a clearing in the woods and the 1960 stamp showing a stylized green tree resembling a fir, commemorating the 5th World Forest Congress.
This year’s holiday stamps feature a new, four-stamp Santa and Sleigh Forever stamps and the Holy Family Forever stamp. These new holiday stamps are in addition to existing Eid, Madonna of the Candelabra, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Holiday Baubles stamps.
Santa and Sleigh
The Santa and Sleigh Forever stamp, priced at 45 cents, is available in four designs in a pressure-sensitive adhesive booklet of 20 stamps. The holiday stamps feature a “classic” image of Santa and his reindeer circling around snow-covered rooftops. The scene is composed of four different stamp designs in two rows of two stamps each. These stamps celebrate the “Letters to Santa” program, the USPS program which for the past century has helped make children’s holiday wishes come true. This is the first time there has been a continuous picture across four Christmas stamps. 750 million stamps have been printed.
The Holy Family
The Holy Family Forever commemorative stamp, also priced at 45 cents, is available in one design in a pressure-sensitive booklet of 20 stamps. The stamp celebrates Christmas with a scene from the Nativity story that reminds us of the joys of the season: family, togetherness, and the birth of Jesus. The stamp depicts Joseph leading a donkey that carries Mary and the baby, Jesus, guided by a star shining in the twilight of a desert sky. 400 million stamps have been printed.
These stamps are all on sale nationwide.
USPS Holiday Ornaments
The U.S. Postal Service is offering two new collectible holiday ornaments in post offices and at usps.com/shop.
The “Letters to Santa” holiday ornament features a metal image of the 2012 Santa and Sleigh Forever stamps and sells for $14.99. The “2012 White House” holiday ornament honors William Howard Taft, the nation’s 27th President. The ornament depicts the president, who introduced the automobile to the White House in 1909 and his wife driving in the White Motor Company’s Model M car to deliver Christmas presents. The ornament, with its highly polished brass a coating of nickel finished in 24k gold, sells for $24.99.
The holiday stamps and ornaments are available for purchase from most local post offices.