Christmas card season a busy one for Rudolph

RUDOLPH — Only about 500 people live in Rudolph, but well over 10,000 Christmas cards, with origins from all around the world, are mailed from the village every year.

The village — which shares its name with Santa Claus' favorite red-nosed reindeer — is a necessary stop for those holiday fanatics who want to make their Christmas cards extra special by having them mailed from a festively named place.

To celebrate the village's seasonally appropriate name, the Rudolph Post Office annually issues special postal markings on stamps during the holiday season. However, they only issue these postal cancellations on certain days during the Christmas card period, with the dates already set for Nov. 6 and Dec. 13.

And this year, the U.S. Postal Service issued Rudolph postal stamps to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the television special, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

These postal stamps have been an especially big hit, said Rudolph Postmaster Becky Trzebiatowski, who noted that there has been a flurry of activity at the Rudolph Post Office.

"It's been very strong, very strong this year. We have issued an awful lot of stamps," Trzebiatowski said about the holiday show-inspired stamps.

The novelty of the stamps even prompted Trzebiatowski to purchase more than she expected. Although she said the post office's supply of stamps is stable, she anticipates that it will need to purchase more this year.

"I know I'm sending out a few extra cards because of them," Trzebiatowski said.

In addition to postal cancellations and Rudolph postal stamps, Rudolph Post Office customers also can stamp the envelopes of their mail with an ink stamp that features a reindeer and reads, "Rudolph, Wisconsin — home of the Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer."

These unique holiday-themed add-ons, Trzebiatowski said, prompt people from all across the U.S., and countries such as China and Switzerland, to mail their Christmas cards to the Rudolph Post Office so that they may be embossed with the Rudolph cancellation and ink stamp.

Judy Hagedorn traveled 45 minutes from Wausau just so she could stamp her Christmas cards with the Rudolph ink stamps. She and her husband, Douglas, mailed more than 100 cards Tuesday. They have sent their holiday cards from Rudolph for the past 10 years, she said.

Judy said she enjoys her grandchildren's reaction to the fact that her holiday cards hail from a place that bears the same name as the red-nosed reindeer.

"They just think it's fun, too — and we do, too," she said. "And it's a nice outing."

This Saturday — the last day to send Christmas cards with the special Rudolph postal cancellation on the envelope — more than 10,000 Christmas cards will be mailed from Rudolph Post Office, Trzebiatowski said.

Although Trzebiatowski said she was not able to estimate how many cards and packages were mailed from Rudolph Post Office this season. However, she did say the Christmas card season started especially early this year. She attributed this to the weather.

"We had snow early," Trzebiatowski said. "So it could have gotten people started to think about Christmas."

Melanie Lawder can be reached at mlawder@cwnews.net or 715-423-7200. Find her on Twitter as @mel_lawder.