Postal service announces holiday stamps available

It’s hard to believe, but Christmas is only two months away. To help get everyone in the spirit, the Postal Service is kicking off the 2011 holiday season by issuing its new Christmas stamps. This year, all holiday stamps will be Forever stamps.
“Holiday gift catalogs are already in the mail,” said Rudolph Postmaster Becky Trzebiatowski. “Soon we’ll be delivering extra packages, cards and letters. Many of them will be dressed in their holiday best — wearing one of the 2011 holiday stamps.”
“Last year, we sold 1.3 billion holiday stamps from October to December,” added Trzebiatowski. That amounts to one in every 10 stamps we sell for the year. We hope to sell even more this year.”
Inspired by 1950s-era ornaments, the festive “Holiday Baubles” Forever stamps feature four colorful ornaments sure to add to the joys of the season. These baubles may inspire fond memories of beloved ornaments from childhood, while still having the power to enchant us
today. Art director William Gicker used illustrations by Linda Fountain of Hilton Head Island, SC, to create the ornaments shown in the stamp art.
For many years, the Postal Service has issued traditional Christmas stamps featuring the Madonna and Child. The Christmas stamp for 2011 presents a detail from a painting by the Italian master Raphael, entitled “Madonna of the Candelabra”. This circular painting dates to 1513 and is now in the Walters Art Museum collection in Baltimore, MD.
In 1508, Raphael was summoned by Pope Julius II to Rome, where he spent the last dozen years of his short life in an inspired burst of activity. The masterpieces he produced in Rome include the painting reproduced on this stamp. The stamp art is a detail of the
painting, as the original photograph was cropped to fit the stamp format. Richard Sheaff served as art director for this issuance.
Both the “Holiday Baubles” and “Madonna of the Candelabra” by Raphael stamps are being issued as Forever stamps which make them good for one-ounce First-Class Mail postage forever.
“In this small way, the Postal Service extends its warmest wishes to you and yours for a very festive, healthy and happy holiday season,” said Trzebiatowski.
The stamps are on sale at the Rudolph Post Office, online at usps.com and by phone at 800-782-6724.
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.