Michigan is full of towns with interesting names/places, most of them 
just dots on the map... Christmas Michigan is no exception.  Visit Christmas
Michigan during your travels to Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

http://munising.com/christmas_michigan/index.html


CHRISTMAS STAMPS 


The 1980 Christmas season stamps was issued on October 31 1980 in 
two separate locations by the U.S. Postal Service. The stamps are 
being printed in the larger commemorative size instead of the normal 
small stamp size. 
The 1977, 1978 and 1979 Christmas stamps were printed in the 
smaller (100 stamps per pane) stamp size. The Art Masterpiece 
stamp, depicting a detail from a stained glass window in the 
Washington Cathedral, was issued in Washington, D.C., while the 
contemporary design stamp, showing antique toys on a window sill, 
will be issued at Christmas, Michigan. 
The stamp being issued in Washington will feature in the vignette a 
Madonna and child taken from the Epiphany Window in the 
Bethlehem Chapel of the Washington Cathedral. 
Christmas, Michigan, was selected as the issue site of the other 
Christmas stamp because the name of the city will add a special 
seasonal identification to the first day of issue cancellation. 
Two different legends appear on the stamps. Across the bottom of the 
stained glass window design, in one line of black type, is a 
"Christmas USA 15c". In the same position on the other stamp, are 
two lines of type. "Season's Greetings", in red type, appears in one 
line across the bottom of the design and, positioned above it to the 
upper right, is "USA 15c." in black type. 
The art Masterpiece stamp was designed by Esther Porter, of the 
Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Patrick S. McCabe, a Postal 
Service photographer, took the photograph depicted on the stamp. 
Esther Porter was the designer of the 1980 Dolley Madison stamp. 
The five apsidal windows of the Bethlehem Chapel in the 
Washington Cathedral were designed to represent the principal 
scenes attendant to the Incarnation of the Son of God to which the 
chapel is dedicated. They depict the genealogy of Christ, the Gloria 
in Excelsis proclamation to the shepherds, the Annunciation, the 
Epiphany, and the Nunc Dimittis (Simeaon's acknowledgement of the 
Holy Child). All five windows were the work of Walter Tower, of 
London, England. 


Esther Porter based her design on the central figures of the madonna 
and child in the Epiphany window, the second from the left in the 
chapel. 
The Season's Greetings stamp was designed by Bob Timberlake, of 
Lexington, North Carolina. It is the first U.S. Postal Service design 
for Mr. Timberlake, who based the vignette on toys from his personal 
collection. A top, a horn, and a drum are displayed on a window sill 
with sunlight illuminating them from the left side. Hanging on the 
window frame, at the upper left, is a Christmas wreath done in the 
Williamsburg (Virginia style). The window is in Timberlake's studio, 
part of a 200 year-old log house which is the oldest structure in 
Davidson County, North Carolina. 
The drum, positioned at the right on the window sill, was 
manufactured around 1817. The horn (or trumpet) shown in the 
centre has a hand carved wooden mouthpiece, and it is believed to 
date back to around 1920. The top at the left was made from a gourd, 
and both the spinner and the handle are hand carved. It is believed to 
have been crafted in the early 1800's. 
Both stamps are vertical.