Christmas stamps from USPS….

 

 

Santa and Sleigh

First Day of Issue: October 13, 2012

These cheerful stamps portray Santa Claus flying through the air in his sleigh. With a cargo of toys and gifts produced in his workshop by elves, he lands on the rooftop of house after house and slides down the chimney to leave presents for girls and boys of all ages.

Santa’s annual journey is joyfully captured in this block of four holiday stamps, with two rows of two stamps each presenting a “classic” image of Santa and his reindeer circling around snow-covered rooftops.

Santa and Sleigh Digital Color Postmark

 

Though his roots go much further back, the modern Santa Claus, the giver of gifts, captured the American imagination in the Revolutionary War era. At that time, understandably critical of English traditions, people looked to the Dutch figure of Sinterklaas for cultural cues and seasonal inspiration. Since then, Santa has become more popular, and is today beloved by millions of children who write him letters, track his progress on the Internet, and leave him milk and cookies as tokens of their esteem.

The Santa and Sleigh stamps have been issued as Forever® stamps. Forever stamps are  equal in value to the current First-Class Mail one-ounce rate.

Holy Family

First Day of Issue: October 10, 2012

The Holy Family stamp celebrates Christmas with a scene from the Nativity story that reminds  the joys of the season: family, togetherness, and the birth of the baby Jesus.

The stamp illustration shows Joseph leading a donkey that carries Mary and Jesus, guided by a star shining in the twilight of a desert sky. The Holy Family stamp has also been issued as a Forever® stamp.