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The
biggest and newest attraction, if you are into gambling, is the Kewadin
Casino, located on the main drag- Highway M-28. The huge casino is a branch
of the five-casino empire of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.
Also, an all new 40 room Paradise Inn Motel was recently constructed and
is located next door to the casino. Christmas Michigan is also home to the
Christmas Michigan Paradise Cottage Rental,
*
a cozy vacation cottage rental
located on shoreline of Lake Superior.
Michigan is
full of towns with interesting names/places, most of them
just dots on the map. Christmas, Michigan * is one such town that should not be
over-looked during your travels in
Michigan's Upper Peninsula.*
  Christmas
Michigan Postage Stamps
The 1980 Christmas season stamps were issued on October 31 1980 in two separate
locations by the U.S. Postal Service. The stamps were 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, was issued at Christmas, Michigan.
The stamp issued in Washington featured 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.
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