About This Stamp
Every Christmas, children all around the world dream of a visit from St. Nick. The U.S. Postal Service celebrates that highly anticipated event with four stamps.
The stamps tell the story of St. Nick’s visit on Christmas Eve. Illustrator Brad Woodard created his images by first sketching then digitizing them. There are four stamps that tell the story of Santa's visit on Christmas Eve. 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.
St. Nick — Santa Claus — is one of our most recognized and beloved cultural icons, his jolly laugh and smiling eyes a happy reminder that the holidays are 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 traveled 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 a 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’s 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, plump elf — very different from the original rather somber bishop.
Twentieth-century artists based their illustrations of Santa Claus on some of Nast’s images, as well as on the description in the poem “The Night Before Christmas.” Their portrayals of a rosy-cheeked, smiling, grandfatherly man in his 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.
Art director Greg Breeding designed the stamps with original art by Brad Woodard.
The A Visit from St. Nick stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps. These Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce price.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Greg Breeding
Greg Breeding is a graphic designer and principal of Journey Group, a design company he co-founded in 1992, located in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was creative director until 2013, at which time he began serving as president and continued in that role through 2023.
Breeding’s fascination with modernism began while studying design at Virginia Commonwealth University. His affinity with the movement continues and motivates his ongoing advanced studies at the Basel School of Design in Switzerland most every summer.
As an art director for postage stamp design since 2012, Breeding has designed more than 100 stamps covering a diverse array of subjects, from Star Wars droids and Batman to Harlem Renaissance writers and the transcontinental railroad.
His work has been recognized in annual design competitions held by Graphis, AIGA, PRINT magazine, and Communication Arts.
Breeding lives in North Garden, Virginia, with his wife and enjoys nothing so much as frolicking on the floor with his grandchildren.
Stamp Artist
Brad Woodard
Designer and illustrator Brad Woodard grew up in the Great Northwest. Art has always been his passion, and growing up, he knew exactly what he wanted to be. After graduating from Brigham Young University with a B.F.A. in graphic design, he went to work for a variety of companies from small start-ups to large ad agencies, where he rediscovered his love of illustration. His work reflects his love for the outdoors, exploring, and learning. He has said that his work is for the young and young at heart.
With his wife, Woodard co-founded a design and illustration studio, Brave the Woods. Among the studio’s clients are Target, Coca-Cola, Baskin Robbins, the History Channel, and Simon & Schuster. Woodard also created Artists for Education, a company that brings artists together to create beautifully designed, educational artwork for teachers' classrooms.
Woodard teaches online classes at SkillShare and is the author of the children’s book Oh No, Astro!, with Matt Roeser, and illustrator of Tatay’s Gift, written by his wife Krystal Woodard.
Woodard and his family live in Boise, Idaho.
A Visit from St. Nick (2021) is his first stamp project for the U.S. Postal Service.