JOY, Ill. — Every year, thousands of letters and cards come pouring into the small village post office in Joy, Illinois. The village is home to less than 400 people, but its holiday tradition is known around the world.
"So far I have Belgium, Australia, Germany, Singapore, Canada and Spain that some of the cards are going to already," postal worker Vickie Fitchner said. "Looks like about six states that I don't have filled yet."
Last year, Fitchner hand-canceled around 9,500 letters.
While the tradition dates back decades, each year features a new, fresh design. This year, it's drawn by Mercer County High School junior Lucy Dunn.
"I first found out about it because Mr. G was telling us that we could submit artwork to it," Lucy said. "A couple months later, my mom woke me up in the morning and was like, 'Oh yeah you won that stamp competition!' I was so confused because I just woke up. I didn't know I was going to win."
The cancellation stamp has always been designed by a local art student, however, because of the pandemic, Joy started having people draw it in-house. This was the first time post-pandemic it was open to the art students again.
This year, the post office also made it a competition between Mercer County, Sherrard and Rockridge high schools. Around 400 people across all Mercer County post offices voted on the three designs, eventually deciding on Lucy's.
"I was so glad that the kids got to do it again," Fitchner said. "The kids don't realize that people still send cards and by having this postmark from their hometowns going to other states and countries, it's quite a surprise for them."
"It's kind of hard for me to wrap my mind around it," Dunn said. "It's very interesting. Like it's crazy that somewhere this close would have something so big going on. Pretty cool."
Dunn's stamp features a gingerbread house and three gingerbread people. She said they're building their house. It looks a little different from her original design; a Christmas tree, sidewalk and some snowflakes had to be cut in order for it to fit on the stamp.
Fitchner is already thinking about next year's competition and is getting ready to send the information to the three schools' art classes.
If you want to get your mail canceled with the special Joy holiday cancellation stamp, you have until Dec. 31. You can either drop off your pre-addressed, pre-stamped envelopes or mail them to Holiday Station PO Box 9998 Joy, Illinois 61260 or to Joy Post Office 202 W. Main Street.
The village is also selling two ornaments this year. One has Dunn's drawing on it. The other features the design from the first-ever cancellation winner in 1996, drawn by then-16-year-old Anthony Dixon from Westmer High School. The proceeds from the ornament fundraiser will be used for the Joy Park Project.