Writing a letter during Christmas is an age-old tradition. But today's technology has made it possible to add some new-fangled additions that letter writers from bygone days couldn't imagine.



For instance, you can now easily add a festive watermark to the paper you're using or instantly download letter templates from sites such as Blue Mountain Arts. But if you'd like to extend your creativity to the outside of the envelope, digital technology has made it possible for you to add a custom Christmas stamp to your letters.

You can make your own personalized postage at sites such as PhotoStamps.com or Zazzle.com. At Zazzle, you can also shop for a wide selection of custom designs created by other people. You'll find everything from traditional messages of peace and goodwill to funny photos of pets in Santa hats. Many are certainly not the images you'll find on the annual holiday designs released by the U.S. Postal Service.

If you'd like to create your own personalized Christmas stamp, all you need is a .jpg image (photos or artwork) that will fit the dimensions. On Zazzle, you can select from three sizes, ranging from 1.3 x 1.8 inches up to 1.5 x 2.5 inches. You can customize your creations or modify someone else's design with a selection of backgrounds, borders and text. You can also select the postage rate, from a .27 cent postcard stamp to a .42 cent first-class stamp and all the way up to a $4.80 Priority Mail stamp.

Once you've customized your stamp and chosen the postage rate, you simply place your order and wait for your stamps to be delivered to your home, just as with any online purchase. Depending on where you order your personalized stamps, you can usually expect your order to be shipped in one to five business days.

If you're ordering for Christmas, be sure to leave enough time for your stamps to arrive and your letters to make it to their destinations before Christmas. If you order early, you may also want to consider adding a holiday cancellation from one of the U.S. cities with Christmas-themed names, such as Nazareth, Pennsylvania or North Pole, Alaska. You can get these postmarks by just sealing, stamping and addressing the letters as you normally would and placing them in a larger envelope. Then address your package to ?Postmaster: Christmas Re-Mailing? at the city where you'd like to receive the postmark. When the post office sees the Christmas Re-Mailing address, the employees will know to open the outer envelope, stamp the inner envelope(s) with their special holiday cancellation, and send your letters on their way. For a complete list of cities that offer holiday postmarks, visit the U.S. Postal Service web site.

For more ideas on spicing up your annual holiday letters, visit greatchristmasletters.com.