This year’s new USPS holiday stamps are titled “Holiday Cheer and feature four festive collage designs: a holly wreath, three amaryllis flowers, cardinals on mistletoe, and an evergreen branch with fruit.For hundreds of years, decorating with fruit, flowers and greenery has been a popular and appealing tradition. The first stamp honors that tradition with an illustration of a plump yellow Bartlett pear, a red pomegranate and a reddish-orange clementine nestled against the branch of an evergreen tree.
The wreath imagery in the second stamp contains a mix of light and dark green leaves interspersed with holly berries and a large red bow at the top. Berries and other seasonal fruits add beautiful color to wreaths and floral arrangements throughout the winter season and are an important food source for birds and other wildlife.
Two crimson cardinals are perched on a mistletoe branch in the third stamp. Northern cardinals have long been associated with the winter holidays, and grace many seasonal cards. These much-loved songbirds provide glorious splashes of color against snow-covered evergreen boughs in backyards across the country.
The final design features three scarlet amaryllis flowers with their bright green stalks tied together by a red ribbon. These festive flowers have become increasingly popular as a Christmas gift. With the right care, they can bloom year after year. Some may also live up to 75 years. Although the majority of amaryllis plants are sold around Christmas, amaryllises naturally bloom from February to April.
Denise Fiedler created the artwork for the collection using gouache and acrylic paint on background paper from a vintage gardening book. She then cut out the shapes for each image and pasted them onto an archival cotton board. Derry Noyes, an art director for USPS, designed the stamps.
