United States:A Visit from St. Nick

Every Christmas, children all around the world dream of a visit from St. Nick.

The US Postal Service celebrated this highly anticipated event with four new stamps.

Issue Description
St. Nick - Santa Claus - is one of our most recognized and beloved cultural icons, his jolly laugh and smiling eyes a happy reminder that Christmas is near.

European immigrants brought to their new country folk characters that over the years became our present-day Santa Claus.

One of those characters was Sinterklaas, who delivered presents on the eve of the feast day of St. Nicholas of Myra, a third-century bishop.

In an 1809 satire, American author Washington Irving described a dream in which St. Nick travelled in a flying wagon.

A few years later, in 1821, the illustrations accompanying the poem "The Children's Friend" further embellished the legend with "Santeclaus" arriving in a sleigh drawn by reindeer

In 1823, the anonymous publication of the poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", perhaps better known as "The Night before Christmas", helped to shape much of our modern mythology of the holiday.

St. Nicholas' sleigh is pulled by eight flying reindeer, each of them carefully called by name. Dressed in fur, with twinkling eyes, rosy cheeks and dimples, St. Nick visits each home to fill children's stockings with presents. He is described as a merry, plum elf - very different from the original rather somber bishop.

Issue Details
Twentieth-century artists based their illustrations of Santa Claus on some of Nast's images, as well as on the description of the poem "A Night before Christmas". Their portrayals of a rosy-cheeked, smiling, grandfatherly man in a red, fur-trimmed suit seemed to embody the very essence of "Santa".

A visit from St. Nick brings joy to the kid in all of us.

Stamps
The A Visit from St. Nick stamps feature four festive, vividly coloured designs that evoke the story of Santa’s visit on Christmas Eve.

The stamps tell the story of St. Nick's visit on Christmas Eve. There are four stamps that tell the story.

The first stamp has Santa about to climb into a rooftop chimney, with the second showing his feet dangling over the fireplace hearth as he descends.

A winking Santa graces the third stamp, while the fourth shows Santa and some of his reindeer as they travel on to their next stop.

First Day Covers
The first First Day Cover features the postage stamp from the issue affixed and cancelled with a pictorial Postmark featuring a stocking stuffed with Christmas Gifts as well as the date and location of issue - October 7, 2021, Santa Claus, IN, 47579.

The second First Day Cover with Digital Colour Postmark features the postage stamp from the issue affixed and cancelled with a pictorial Digital Colour Postmark featuring Santa winking as well as the date and location of issue - October 7, 2021, Santa Claus, IN, 47579.

Booklet
Doubled-Sided Booklet of 20 stamps (four designs).