
After years of shunning them, I have come to regard Christmas and other seasonally-themed stamps as one of my favorite annual topicals in recent years. Part of that is probably part of my efforts to get into some sort of holiday spirit, a difficult task living in a predominantly Buddhist (96 percent) and Islamic (3.6%) country where the average December temperature is in the 80’s. The other part is that I simply like the festive and religious designs, as well as being reminded of Christmases back in the United States while I was growing up.
To my thinking, many of the designs of the Christmas 2020 stamps are a step above any others in recent memory. While some were definitely designed more than one year ago (pre-pandemic), others are more recent creations of artists at least partially influenced by the myriad of “unprecedented” events that have occurred this year. Just as this holiday period has seen an unusual amount of overtly Christmas decorations here in Thailand in an effort to make everyone (Christian or not) feel more festive not to mention boost the local failing economy, the majority of the stamps seem more cheerful overall than previous releases.
This checklist includes links to the articles about the stamps themselves (click on the yellow country names). There are still a few that I haven’t had the time to put together articles but I hope to remedy that within the few days remaining before Christmas (of course, my true deadline could be Epiphany or Eastern Orthodox Christmas in early January). I have also included several Christmas seals (some of the Nordic countries seem to have replaced Christmas stamps with seals in recent years) and several that are not exactly celebrating Christmas itself such those showing Winter scenes from Japan and the United States. This list does not include any Hanukkah or Kwanzaa stamps; there are, however, a couple of “New Year” stamps (Russia, for example) but no Chinese/Lunar New Year (Year of the Ox) issues. I may do a checklist on those at some point.
A brief reminder here…. I do plan to continue reporting on New Issues in 2021 but will not attempt to cover more than a select few stamp-issuing entities and topicals. To date, I have not posted any articles on stamps to be released in the New Year but will start doing so in the near future (probably sometime during my short holiday from 31 December through 4 January as I am working hard teaching seven days per week and also preparing/rehearsing Christmas plays for two different schools this week!).
Happy Holidays, everyone!
Åland : released on 23 October 2020
Åland [Christmas seals] : released on 23 October 2020
Alderney : released on 28 October 2020
Andorra, French Administration : released on 06 November 2020
Andorra, Spanish Administration : released on 05 November 2020
Argentina : released on 09 December 2020
Armenia [New Year and Christmas] : released on 29 December 2020
Australia : released on 30 October 2020
Austria [Christmas Art] : released on 13 November 2020
Austria : [Modern Christmas] : released on 20 November 2020 [joint issue with Vatican City]
Austria [Vintage Christmas] : released on 27 November 2020
Bahamas : released on 03 December 2020
Belarus : released on 27 October 2020
Belgium : released on 26 October 2020
Belgium [Spéculoos Christmas Cookies] : released on 26 October 2020
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatian Administration : released on 01 December 2020
Brazil : released on 28 October 2020
Bulgaria : released on 25 November 2020
Canada [Maud Lewis Folk Art]: released on 02 November 2020
Canada [Nativity] : released on 02 November 2020
Chile : released in December 2020
Christmas Island : released on 30 October 2020
Colombia : released on 07 December 2020
Croatia : released on 26 November 2020
Curaçao : released on 01 December 2020
Cyprus : released on 19 November 2020
Czech Republic : released on 21 October 2020
Denmark [Christmas seals] : released in October 2020
Estonia : released on 15 October 2020
Estonia [Christmas Cookies ATM labels] : released on 05 December 2020
Falkland Islands : released on 20 November 2020
Faroe Islands [Christmas seals] : released on 02 November 2020
Finland : released on 04 November 2020
Germany : released on 02 November 2020
Gibraltar : released on 02 November 2020
Gibraltar [ATM labels] : released on 02 November 2020
Great Britain : released on 03 November 2020
Greece : released on 23 November 2020
Greenland : released on 06 November 2020
Guatemala : released 0n 11 December 2020
Guernsey : released on 28 October 2020
Hong Kong : released on 04 December 2020
Hungary : released on 22 October 2020
Iceland : released on 29 October 2020
Ireland : released on 05 November 2020
Isle of Man : released on 30 October 2020
Isle of Man [ATM labels] : released on 30 October 2020
Israel [ATM label] : released on 1 December 2020
Italy : released on 01 December 2020
Japan [Winter Greetings] : released on 20 November 2020
Jersey : released on 23 November 2020
Latvia : released on 27 November 2020
Liechtenstein : released on 16 November 2020
Lithuania : released on 27 November 2020
Luxembourg : released on 08 December 2020
Malta : released on 24 November 2020
Mexico : released on 27 November 2020
Moldova : released on 22 December 2020
Monaco : released on 03 November 2020
Netherlands [December stamps] : released on 16 November 2020
New Caledonia : released on 04 November 2020
New Zealand : released on 04 November 2020
North Macedonia : released on 22 December 2020
Norway : released on 06 November 2020
Palestine : released on 06 November 2020
Paraguay : released on 02 December 2020
Philippines : released on 23 November 2020
Poland : released on 16 November 2020
Romania : released on 12 November 2020
Russia [Happy New Year!] : released on 03 December 2020
Saint Helena : released on 01 September 2020
Saint Pierre and Miquelon : released on 21 November 2020
San Marino : released on 10 November 2020
Serbia : released on 15 October 2020
Sierra Leone [Christmas Paintings] : released on 31 August 2020
Slovak Republic : released on 13 November 2020
Slovenia : released on 13 November 2020
Spain : released on 05 November 2020
Sri Lanka : released in December 2020
Sweden : released on 12 November 2020
Switzerland : released on 12 November 2020
Switzerland [Pro Juventute] : released on 12 November 2020
Tokelau : released on 04 November 2020
United States [Holiday Delights] : released on 24 September 2020
United States [Winter Scenes] : released on 16 October 2020
United States [Our Lady of Guapulo] : released on 20 October 2020
Uruguay : released on 16 December 2020
Vatican City : released on 10 November 2020 [joint issue with Austria]
@LenLenSembillo [The 12 Days of Christmas fantasy stamps] : posted on Twitter from 26 December 2020 until 5 January 2021
Carol May says:
Thanks Kathy!
Mark Joseph Jochim says:
Merry Christmas!