The Postal Service issued four new stamps and a souvenir sheet showcasing classic images of Santa Claus painted by famed commercial artist Haddon Sundblom. Each stamp portrays a close-up of Santa’s face. The four images featured in the booklet are details from larger paintings created by Sundblom and originally published in ads for The Coca-Cola Company from the 1940s through the early 1960s. Sundblom is the man credited with refining the modern image of Santa Claus.
The souvenir sheet includes a semi-jumbo stamp as part of a wider scene of one of Sundblom's paintings chosen for the Sparkling Holidays stamp booklet. In it, Santa is depicted standing by a fireplace holding a book that lists good boys and girls. Three Christmas stockings hang along a mantel decorated with greens and ornaments. Peering over his glasses, Santa reads a note among the stockings.
In the United States, children traditionally leave Santa a glass of milk and a plate of cookies and carrots for his reindeer on Christmas Eve.
Before going to bed, children hang their stockings in a location where Santa cannot miss them. If the home does not have a fireplace, an exterior door is left unlocked so Santa may enter with gifts galore. Tags on gifts for children are sometimes signed by their parents "From Santa Claus" before the gifts are laid beneath the tree.
Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus reside at the North Pole. Santa oversees elves' productivity in creating toys --- the gifts he delivers around the world to good boys and girls on Christmas Eve and early Christmas morning.
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