USPS introduces Christmas in October

Christmas comes in October for the U.S. Postal Service.

That’s when the USPS will release its annual Christmas stamp and four colorful nonreligious holiday stamps. These will be issued Oct. 23 at the “Postage Stamp Mega-Event” in New York City. All have a 37-cent denomination.

The Christmas stamp again will feature Jan Gossaert’s “Madonna and Child,” which was first issued last year (2002). It depicts a detail of Gossaert’s oil-on-panel painting from the Charles H. and Mary F.S. Worcester Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Gossaert (circa 1478-1532) was a Netherlands artist credited with being one of the first to bring the innovations of the Italian Renaissance to Northern Europe. He introduced a greater awareness of anatomy and architecture rarely seen in Dutch paintings.

Although the design of the 2003 stamp is the same as the 2002 issue, the new release has a different format — a double-sided booklet of 20 stamps.

The 2003 holiday stamps are titled “Holiday Music Makers.” They portray two whimsical Santas and two carefree reindeer playing horns, panpipes and a drum.

Two other year-end holiday issues repeated in 2003 by the Postal Service are the 37-cent Hanukkah and Kwanzaa stamps.