About This Stamp
This round Global stamp features a photograph of a wreath flecked with snow and decorated with pinecones, tiny berries, and light blue and light peach-colored ornaments.
The first Global issuance in 2013 featured a digital rendering of the Earth. That year also saw the issuance of the first Global stamp with a holiday theme, offering a festive option for international mail by featuring a photograph of a wreath.
“Their shape makes them instantly recognizable around the world, and it’s been an interesting design challenge to find objects and images that fit a round frame,” explains USPS art director Greg Breeding. “My colleagues and I have shown the Earth, the moon, flowers, and most recently I designed a 2025 stamp with a beautiful 18th-century compass rose. Two of the three previous Global holiday-themed stamps have also featured wreaths with a strong emphasis on the traditional red and green.”
For this 2026 issuance, Breeding looked to convey a different mood by showcasing a softer color palette. He soon found Natalia Kostikova’s photograph of a wreath she made in 2023 from artificial branches and craft-store materials, including decorative ornaments she painted herself and a baking-soda spray to simulate snow.
“There’s a gentle sense of peace and happiness about it,” Breeding says. “It’s a humble creation, but millions of people will enjoy it on letters and cards during the holidays. It’s a reminder to all of us, and maybe a special reminder to designers, that a simple approach can still be extremely meaningful.”
This Global stamp can be used to mail a one-ounce letter to any country to which First-Class Mail International® service is available. As with all Global stamps, this stamp will have a postage value equivalent to the price of the single-piece First-Class Mail International first-ounce machineable letter in effect at the time of use.
Stamp Designer, Stamp Art Director
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.