Thursday, December 18, 2008



I wasn't about to show you my stockings and then my darling friend Fairmaiden asked so sweetly that I couldn't resist. I have to admit it's somewhat embarrassing owning stockings so large and they're not necessarily the prettiest either, but they are huge and you can load them up with an assortment of wonderful and magical gifts. The one above belongs to sweet hubby.



Hubby and I started dating around the beginning of September so when Christmas rolled around and we were still dating we started sharing childhood Christmas memories. I was sharing with him how opening my stocking Christmas morning was my favorite part of the holiday. My mom always put the best gifts in each of our stockings and in my excitement I always crept out of bed in the middle of the night to see what was inside. Then I would peek in my sisters too...oops!
Then hubby started sharing his stocking stories. He and his siblings would pull a sock out of their drawer and hang it up on the fireplace mantle. Then Christmas morning they would all go screaming out of their beds to see what was in their socks. SOCKS THAT THEY WORE ON THEIR FEET! My hubby had no Christmas stocking...isn't that sad? He laughed about eating hard candy that had sock fuzz on it. Yuck! I'm a finicky girl and surly would have thrown those candies away!
So that year I made him a stocking and filled it with all sorts of fun and wacky gifts.
The stocking above is mine. I've been wanting to make a new one with a crazy quilt toe and vintage lace, but I haven't been unable to find the time. Maybe I'll start in July.



This was my original stocking ...the one my mother said belonged to a greedy child. I was seventeen when I stitched it together on my little'ol sewing machine and I thought it was quite clever with its bright red stripes. Now I look at it and think, "what were you thinking?" It has been passed down to the bunnies and the birds and the puppies who all in their turn have enjoyed crawling or hopping into the top and finding all sorts of magical toys and treats.

8 comments:

ellen b. said...

:0) So glad you chose to show your stockings Cori! We never had stocking growing up in my house. We started the stocking tradition when we had our own kids and it's now one of our favorites. We wake up on Christmas morning open the the stockings and then Dear makes us all Swedish Pancakes then we go back and open the gifts under the tree :0)
I'm driving to Huntington Beach tomorrow to see Miss Hope and then to spend the night for our Big Christmas cooking day at my niece's in Orange!

Moorea said...

Cori-
It is not raining here anymore. But it was 32' last night.There was ice on the driveway. Erik slipped on it. We are so not used to anything like that! I hope it snows.
You have stockings out! That inspires me to get ours down. I am terrible, I have put absolutely NO Christmas decorations up. Your stocking stories are fun. I put the best gifts in them. Luckily everything they want is tiny!
Love, Moorea

p.s. did you know Fairmaiden is in Nor CA near me? We belong to the same homeschool group. I believe I found your blog through hers now that I think about it.

pam said...

Oh Cori, what a wonderful post. Although your stockings are tiny compared to one our youngest made for our oldest. I don't even remember how it came about but the stocking is almost 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide---it is such a wonderful laugh for each of us. Our oldest has always thought that the stockings were the best part of Christmas morning. I've been thinking about knitting and felting some new ones--like you said---maybe in July.

ellen b. said...

Hi Cori!
Yes we do need to get together sometime when I venture out to O.C.
Now just to clarify we aren't going to be making cookies, we are going to be making Varenki, a Russian treat. You can see what they look like here.
http://happywonderer.wordpress.com/2008/01/10/vareniky-the-bagdanov-way-russian-recipe/
Hope your weekend is restful and joyful!!

Seawashed said...

Thank you Cori for sharing your stockings with us! They are so fun...and I don't think they're too big at all!!! I loved opening my stocking too as a child and aLL MY CHIldren do too. And our pets too!

Yes, I did get a gmail, but it wouldn't accept it for an email change for my blog, so I had to get hotmail for that. Haven't had any spam with hotmail yet, and I like all the things to make it pretty with. I have a Victorian style pattern in pale grey right now. So far, I'm liking it. But I hate spam, so I hope I don't begin getting it down the road. My daughter also is trying to help me with photobucket so I can put my name on my photos like you do, so no one steals my pics. I discovered someone who has. Arhg!!! I don't understand people sometimes.

ellen b. said...

Oops. Forgot to mention that Miss Hope is my newest little niece. She will be 1, January 25th. She lives in Dallas with my brother and his wife so we don't get to see her often enough!!

Just A Girl said...

Hi Fairmaiden,
How strange that gmail wouldn't work. I thought that in order to have a blog through blogger you needed a gmail account. I still have a hard time figuring all this out.

I need to check into photobucket or one of those services. I have Photoshop and that's how I get my name on my pics, but all my pics are on my computer taking up precious space.

I'm glad you enjoyed my stockings. I've since learned that my friend Pam has one larger so I don't feel so bad.
Have a wonderful evening. I'm off to have ice cream.

Beverly said...

Cori, I so enjoyed your stocking stories. We love stockings in our home, too.

There are always such fun treats in stockings.