Merry Christmas! We’re on the downhill slide! (Thank goodness!)
Do you remember your first stocking? My mother made mine with sparkly rick-rack and a glued on picture, along with my name at the top. I still have it. How cool is that? I have happy memories from that stocking. I remember how fun it was to see what was in the “toe” of the stocking. One time, I received my first ring. It was jade in 10k gold. I still have that ring! I received a signet ring another time.
Since then, I’ve given fun things like jewelry and Ipods in stockings. I also give candy, gift cards and SOCKS in stockings. Socks take up a lot of room, thank goodness. Paperback books are also a GREAT stocking stuffer.
So, what about you? What have you found in your stocking? And what do you give.
And once again, MERRY CHRISTMAS!
xo,
Leanne
Riding With The Top Down 
We never had fancy stockings.. We would just hang up a plain old sock. One year I remember hanging up a pair of my mom’s nylon stocking… We never had a fire place, so they were hung by our beds. I remember one year waking up in the morning and my stocking had not been filled. But when I went down stairs, mom said that Santa had left mine by the Chirtmas tree, that he found another empty sock and filled this one for me. He forgot that I had moved bedrooms to my Grandmother’s part of the house… Of course years later I realized mom had forgot…Thanks for the memoriy..
Kathleen, what a fun memory!:) lol I love your mom’s explanation about how “Santa” forgot. Merry Christmas! xo, Leanne
Hmm, we don’t really have Christmas stockings in Australia – at least I’ve never known anyone who has had one. So I’ve never found anything in mine! It does sound like a good way to get more presents!
Sonya, lol. A good way to get presents or junk food! Merry Christmas Sonya!:) xo, Leanne
So cool that you still have your stocking from when you were a little girl, Leanne.
We even have Christmas stockings for the dog and the cats LOL. don’t tell Margaret (the dog) that she has a new chew toy waiting for her. The cats are getting – what else – catnip!
For the grandkids, I stuffed their stockings with colorful stickers, candy canes, tubes of M&M/s, silly putty, silly string, some miniature snow globes and some lumps of coal :o) Of course the coal was actually gum.
Merry Christmas!
Cindy, love that you even do stockings for your pets! Margaret and the kitties will be SO happy!:) Merry Christmas Cindy! xo, Leanne
I love stockings. I make them for the family. Everything from fancy, detailed Santa scenes with stuffing and beaded embellishments to crazy quilt to Miss Piggy complete with life-like hair made from a gazillion spools of thread.
I love stockings and think everyone should have one. I suck at putting things in stockings though. We usually do little things for the kids. Toy cars and candy canes and maybe a video game. Apples or oranges (really gorgeous ones).
Debra! MISS PIGGY! I loooooove Miss Piggy! That is so cool that you are so creative with the stockings! Merry Christmas Sweetie!:) xo, Leanne
Oh, in an odd twist? I, myself, don’t actually have a stocking. LOL!
Now THAT is just WRONG!
Isn’t it cool how we cherish some things we received from so long ago? I was looking at a pin I got when I was ten the other day. It’s survived many decades! We don’t put stuff in stockings now that the kids have grown, but we still hang them on the fireplace. I wanted to get my cats stockings the other day–they were so cute and small!–but the hubby was along, so I controlled myself. 😉
Michele, I hate to say it, but I actually use gift bags as stockings sometimes! That probably will happen this year!:) Merry Christmas! xo, Leanne
Our dog has a stocking. Kitty died 2 years ago, but I still have his stocking. Had them made, too–crochet–so they must be handed down. I’m not getting one for the betta, though. Gotta draw the line somewhere.
I still have my childhood stocking too. It’s red corduroy with a white corduroy cuff. And my mother took some sort of small red braided thread and used it to make my name. Then she sewed on sequins in a Christmas tree outline. I don’t hang that one anymore though. I hang one I bought with a gift card some dear friends gave me to a big Christmas shop. The new one is dark green felt and has a red cardinal on it. I’m a North Carolina native and the cardinal is our state bird. Of course, there’s no one to fill it now. 😦
My mother did cross stitched stockings for both my boys as well as my sister’s son and my granddaughter. I think I still have #1 son’s and I should give it to him since he’s married and has a new house with a mantle.
I got a little silver “princess ring” with a small diamond in it one year. That’s my birthstone. I still have that ring too.
Merry Christmas to all! I’m getting to spend it with both my sons, my DIL and granddaughter. And then two days later I’m checking into a B&B in Asheville, NC for a “Me Vacation” complete with a spa day and a trip to Biltmore House.
Marilyn, what wonderful stocking memories and stories you have! I love the corduroy stocking. So cute.<3 I'm thrilled that you get to spend Christmas with your family and I hope you enjoy your ME Vacation! Merry Christmas! xo, Leanne
I still have my stocking from my childhood, too, Leanne. My grandma made all of ours out of read and white felt, with cut out felt wreaths and Christmas trees. I made my husband his first stocking out of the same pattern when I was 17 🙂 and another one for my first nephew and my first three boys. Later however I started ordering needlepoint stockings from Lands End for the entire family and added new ones for each new in-law and grandchild. All get hung every season and they all still get filled.
I don’t put real fun gifts in them…usually movies, gift cards, baby shoes, toys…all my kids are getting a digital tire pressure gauge in their stocking this year, courtesy of their father 🙂
Santa always puts jewelry in mine 🙂 He knows what I like!
Kylie, your stockings sound gorgeous! I love the digital tire pressure gauge! I’m so glad Santa knows what YOU like for Christmas!!!:) Merry Christmas! xo, Leanne
I had stockings made for my kids and grandkids. Mama made stockings one year for sibs and me, but they got lost along the trail. We always got an orange in the toe, which was an homage to her childhood. Candy canes are always sticking out of the top. I’ve mention the socks tradition here before, so Grandpa can say, “Look what my stocking hatched!” I had to smile the year #1 son told the grands that the stocking is always the best part.
I’ve gotten some nice jewelry in my stocking on occasion. This year I hinted for new tires for the SUV, aka, Nana’s pony.
My mom must still have my original stocking. I think I would have wonderful, fab homemade stocking for everyone in my family, but I sold my first book when my boys were little (and about the age when I would have done this) so I started using all my creativity for books (or so I say). Also, my Son1’s bday is the 22nd, so we have always put a lot of creative energy into that celebration too.
I always got paperback books in my stocking. My folks rarely bought books (we visited the library at least once a week, more often in the summer) so those books were always fun. And designed to keep my quiet and in bed until everyone else got up! I was always an early riser.
Nothing. There is/will be nothing in my stocking (though I still have the one Grammy knit for me hanging up as decoration). We celebrate St. Nicholas’ Day on December 6th and he comes and fills our wooden shoes with gold coins, oranges, gingerbread and candy canes. Every year St. Nicholas would bring us an extra special gold gift. I still have the jewelry that I got from him over the years. I have two boys of my own now which makes finding a gold gift a little more challenging, so St. Nicholas has opted to go with small toys instead – though when they are old enough to appreciate it I bet the small toys will be replaced with small electronics. 😉