It’s Officially Christmas
By Don on Dec 22, 2007 in Featured
You only need to take a quick look in your mailbox to know it’s that time of year again. Christmas is here, 
and the official USPS Christmas stamp is once again on the cover of holiday cards, letters, and packages. The 2007 USPS Christmas stamp is the newest entry in a long line of government-issued holiday collectibles.
The official Christmas stamp is a fine old tradition…but just how old is it? The answer really depends on how old you are. If you’re a baby boomer, the release of the first Christmas Stamp is a treasured childhood memory. So it can’t be that old…or can it? Yes it can.
The United States Post Office Department issued its first Christmas stamp in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on November 1, 1962. The news understandably did not achieve front page status. A few days earlier, the world had been teetering on the brink of nuclear war. Then, on October 28th, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev authorized the dismantling of his country’s weaponry on the island of Cuba in exchange for President JFK’s assurances that American missiles along the Soviet border with Turkey would be removed.
Suddenly, it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
The release of the first official USPS Christmas stamp went largely unnoticed in light of world events. With the return to ‘peace on earth,’ however, Americans were free to focus on the holidays and on holiday mail. They were delighted with the red and green, 4-cent stamps that featured a wreath, two candles, and the words “Christmas 1962.”
Life was not all holly-jolly for the new issue. The decision to print a Christmas stamp encountered some controversy, especially from groups concerned about maintaining the separation of church and state. Ultimately, however, legal actions to bar the stamps were unsuccessful.
The Postal Department, in anticipation of high demand for the new Christmas stamp, ordered 350 million printed. It was the largest number produced for a special stamp until that time. It seemed reasonably since the total U.S. population was just 185,738,000.
Surprise!
The initial supply sold out quickly, and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing began working around the clock to print more. By the end 1962, one billion of the stamps had been printed and distributed. This year, the post office will print more than 4 billion Christmas postage stamps.
Hopefully, for tongues everywhere, most of those stamps are self-adhesive!
Happy holidays.
