During the Christmas holiday, Americans send out more than 2 billion greeting cards to family and friends, and many of us buy special Christmas postage stamps to place on those cards and Christmas letters. It’s such a tradition that you may not realize it’s only been in the past few decades that the United States Postal Service started issuing these special stamps. The first Christmas stamp in the United States wasn’t released until 1962 and other winter holidays – Hanukkah and Kwanzaa – weren’t recognized with their own stamps until 1996 and 1997, respectively.
The United States, however, didn’t invent holiday stamps. Credit for the first Christmas stamp generally goes to Canada, which issued a 2-cent stamp in 1898 with the words, “XMAS 1898.” The stamp, which featured a map of the world, wasn’t originally planned to celebrate the holidays. But when Postmaster William Mulock suggested to Queen Victoria that the stamp be issued in November to “honor the Prince,” the queen seemed displeased and asked which prince Mulock was referring to. He quickly replied, “the Prince of Peace, m’am,” and the stamp was released in December with the Xmas inscription.
The United States didn’t issue its first Christmas stamp until 1962. The 4-cent stamp featured a wreath, two candles, and the words “Christmas 1962” and quickly sold out the initial run of 350 million stamps. As a result, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing had to work around the clock to meet the demand for the special holiday release. By the end of the 1962 holiday season, one billion Christmas stamps were sold.
The US Postal Service has issued new Christmas stamps every year since then (except in 2000 when the rates were about to change), and now it’s also possible to create your own personalized USPS stamps for the holidays with online services that make it easy to use your own photos and images.
(Reprinted with permission from The First Christmas Stamp in America on HubPages.)
