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The Holy Family.

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.

It’s not even Halloween, but now is the time most countries start issuing Christmas stamps.

The U-S each year issues four fairly secular Christmas stamps -- this year it’s Santa and
Sleigh -- and every other year or so a religious stamp. The latter is almost always a
painting of the Madonna and Child that hangs in a U-S art museum... but not this year.

Holy Family, as it’s called, is a stunning image of a man leading a donkey ridden by a
woman and child across the desert. They’re silhouetted against a brilliant sunset with a
bright star in the sky guiding them. The artist is Nancy Stahl, who has mostly designed
animal stamps for the Postal Service.

Just one problem: The New Testament says it was the THREE WISE MEN who were guided by the
Star of Bethlehem. The Holy Family was led by an ANGEL.

Oh, and if that’s a TWILIGHT sky, as one Postal Service description said, it’s even possible
the Star is leading them in the wrong direction.

But it’s a great stamp design, and should be very popular. it probably isn’t that much more
historically inaccurate than many other paintings through the ages that depict the Christmas
story.

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting,
visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

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