![\"2026](\"https:\/\/mmc-220a5.kxcdn.com\/x\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/christmas-cookies-2026.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nIn addition, as per their usual Christmas routine, a new \u201ctraditional\u201d Christmas image.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s traditional Christmas stamp features \u201cThe Virgin and Child Enthroned,\u201d a Netherlandish painting that dates from around the year 1500 and has been attributed to an artist known only as \u201cThe Master of the Embroidered Foliage.\u201d Scholars believe this distinctive painting, with its large central figure of Mary in red garments and an array of background details, was created in a workshop by several artists and assistants, as was common practice at the time. This is what it looks like:<\/p>\n
That annual Christmas stamp announcement is as traditional as stockings, eggnog and mistletoe.<\/p>\n But how much longer will they be able to make it?<\/em><\/p>\n The performance of the US Postal Service continues to raise eyebrows. Recently it was reported that the postal service lost $2.5 billion dollars in just the third quarter of this year and this was despite a revenue increase of more than $20 billion.<\/p>\n While the postal service has been bleeding cash for years it has recently become the subject of public speculation because service levels have diminished and sending even simple things like Christmas cards have become something of a concern.<\/p>\n We have for 22 years operated an online Christmas Card Exchange<\/a> as part of the Christmas community here at My Merry Christmas. It is a cherished tradition. For regular senders and receivers of Christmas cards the concerns of what costs will be and just how long it will take to send a card around the world are genuine.<\/p>\n And we are not the only ones with these concerns.<\/p>\n Social media banter indicates that with the emergence of AI the practice of sending traditional (old fashioned?<\/em>) Christmas greetings will further diminish due to rising costs and lack of arrival via traditional postal services.<\/p>\n Some speculate that the postal service just cannot afford to keep producing specialty items such as collectible Christmas stamps if simply because it isn\u2019t profitable to do so.<\/p>\n The US postal service dates back to 1775 but surprisingly they have only produced Christmas stamps since 1962. Here is what was produced that first Christmas from the Post Office:<\/p>\n It\u2019s not like this tradition is really that old. According to the Smithsonian National Postal Museum<\/a> (who knew?<\/em>) the post office produces one \u201ctraditional\u201d stamp and a set of \u201ccontempory\u201d stamps each year. The traditional seems to pursue historic art of a sacred nature while the contemporary stamps tend to focus on secular Christmas themes.<\/p>\n But AI is bleeding rapidly into nearly every part of our lives. Will a more modern method of exchanging Christmas greetings emerge as the post office embraces technologies in the name of reducing costs in human expenditure of labor and materials?<\/p>\n![\"2026](\"https:\/\/mmc-220a5.kxcdn.com\/x\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/christmas-madonna-and-child-2026.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"1962](\"https:\/\/mmc-220a5.kxcdn.com\/x\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/art-of-christmas-stamps-1980_2493_5430-300x173.jpg\")
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