Holiday Nutcrackers' Photographer Welcomes New Canaan Customers on Saturday

CT's 24-Hour Self Serve Postal Centers Offering Nutcracker Stamps All Month

New Canaan – Each holiday season, Nutcrackers return to stages, to parades and to treasured displays in households around the world.  This year, look for Nutcrackers in your mailbox as well, thanks in part to the talents of local photographer Sally Andersen-Bruce.

Ms. Andersen-Bruce provided the sketches and notes for the Holiday Nutcracker postage stamps and later photographed the completed Nutcrackers for the stamps. 

Collectors and postal customers are invited to meet Ms. Andersen-Bruce, who will in the lobby of the New Canaan Post Office, 2 Pine Street, from 10 am until 1 pm on Saturday, December 6.   New Canaan Postmaster Douglas Carey said Ms. Andersen-Bruce will autograph stamps and other collectibles.

Now, nearly 1.5 billion of her Nutcrackers can be found in post offices, retailers, grocery and drug stores.  In fact, all 120 self-service kiosks, known as Automated Postal Centers, in post offices around the Northeast are dispensing Nutcracker Stamps for the convenience of seasonal stamp buyers. 

The designs are already a fan favorite.  The four Nutcrackers include Santa or “Father Christmas” with a lantern in one hand and a snowflake-topped staff in the other. There is a gold and ruby-crowned king, a yellow-jacketed military captain, and a green-garbed drummer with a red drum.  The actual Nutcrackers used on the stamps were custom-made for the Postal Service by Glenn Crider of TRC Designs, in Virginia, using drawings by Ms. Andersen-Bruce.  

But Ms. Andersen-Bruce has a track record of picking heart warming, customer friendly stamp images. 

Her photographic works have appeared on other popular American postage stamps, including the 2005 Holiday Cookies, the 2004 Holiday Ornaments and, in 2002, the  Holiday Snowmen stamps and Holiday Greetings card.  In addition, she photographed images used in the 2002 Neuter and Spay stamp, the 2002 Antiques Toys series and the Classic American Dolls set from 1997.

The Postal Service printed 2.171 billion holiday stamps, including 1.486 billionHoliday Nutcrackers;  600 million Virgin and Child with the Young John the Baptist;  25 million Eid; 35 million Kwanzaa and 25 million Hanukkah.

What is an Automated Postal Center?
Automated Postal Centers (APCs) in Connecticut began offering this year's Holiday Nutcracker Stamps on December 1st.  This will be the only first class postage stamp dispensed in the kiosks through the month, or until supplies are exhausted. 

The 24-hour self-service stations also offer shipping services and zip code look-ups, with recent upgrades that permit post office box payments. 

Automated Postal Centers (APCs) offer a Spanish-language option for all transactions and, in Connecticut, are available in postal lobbies that are open 24 hours each day. 

APCs are located in Bridgeport, Danbury, Enfield, Fairfied, Glastonbury, Greenwich (Greenwich Avenue Station, Greenwich Postal Store),  Hamden, Hartford, Manchester, Milford, New Canaan, New Haven, Newington, Southbury, Stamford, Stratford, West Hartford and Wilton.

Editor's note:  We can assist you with a demonstration of the Nutcrackers Stamps dispensed from a local APC for a high-tech presentation of these long-time favorites.  It may be different way to see stamps!