by issuing "religious" and "secular" themed designs in alternate years. Usage The typical usage of Christmas stamps is to quickly apply them to a stack of Christmas cards to go out. In the age of email, Christmas stamps may represent some individuals' largest remaining use of stamps in a year, and it is not unusual to see "leftovers" appear on regular mail during the first months of the new year. In Australia and the Netherlands, Christmas stamps are sold at a discount, but can be used after Christmas with additional stamps to make up the correct rate. Collecting Christmas is a popular theme for topical collecting. Because of the quantities printed, almost all Christmas stamps are easy to come by and of negligible cost. Collecting challenges would therefore be to get covers with apropos postal markings, such as a postmark on Christmas Day (not all post offices get the day off), from a particular location (such as Christmas Island; Christmas, Florida; Noel, Missouri; North Pole, Alaska; North Pole, New York; or Santa Claus, Indiana), or bearing a specific Christmas theme or slogan. The Christmas Philatelic Club was formed in 1969 by Christmas stamp collectors and issues a quarterly journal, the Yule Log. A number of collectors treat Christmas collecting as a subcategory of religion on stamps. Other holiday stamps The United States has occasionally issued stamps for other holidays, such as Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. Since the 1990s, stamps for Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Eid, and Chinese New Year have become a regular part of the holiday program, although in contrast to Christmas stamps the designs tend to be re-used for several years, distinguishable only by a different denomination or year date. In Japan, there is a longstanding tradition of a New Year's stamp. A number of Easter stamps have also been issued, but these are largely aimed at collectors. Valentine's Day stamps are a more recent tradition in some countries. References Further reading Waller Sager and Kathleen Berry, 75 Years of Christmas Stamps (1971) Everleigh Foster, Christmas Stamps of the World (American Topical Association Handbook 120, 1990) External links Christmas Philatelic Club homepage Latest Christmas Stamps over the world (since 2004) Stamp Stamp Philatelic terminology Topical postage stamps