Star post office 2025 cancellation mark familiar to anyone with a cat

STAR — The winner of the 2025 Star Post Office Christmas cancellation art contest was inspired by her cat.

Silvia Cervantes-Goana’s winning drawing is an illustration of her cat playing with the Christmas tree lights. Her artwork will be used as the official cancellation on letters and cards sent from the Star Post Office through Dec. 31.

“I was inspired by my pet cat, Nacho. He used to knock ornaments off and pull tinsel off the (Christmas) tree,” Cervantes-Goana explained. “He’s very curious.”

Nacho is a tabby with orange and white fur, she said. Now he’ll go down in posterity as the 2025 Christmas cancellation for the Star Post Office.

Cervantes-Goana works at the Ether Post Office and her boss — Kirk Kern, the postmaster at Star — encouraged her to enter the contest last year. She didn’t win in her first attempt but found success, with Nacho, this year.

“I’ve been drawing my whole life,” she said. “I like to do cartoons and paint, draw and doodle. My boss saw me drawing one day and said I should enter. There are usually a lot who enter so I was surprised that I won.

“I makes me happy and excited,” she said. “I’ve never won anything like this.”

The Star government website, https://starnc.gov/services/postoffice, has this to say about the contest: “Star shares official U.S. Postal Service designation as a Christmas Town honors with about a dozen other U.S. cities, but Star is the only one with a different cancellation every year, creating a high demand among collectors. Artists compete to have their drawing selected as the winning design each year, with the submission deadline typically being in late September.”