The Story of the Stockings

This is not a inspiring story, but one of the lessons to be learned when your imagination is bigger than you abilities. I enjoy crafts when I have oodles of time and nothing else to stress me and when I can give them away so I never have to look at them again. By the end of each craft, I hate and despise it and never want to see it again because I know exactly where each and every flaw is. So why is making Christmas stockings a good idea? It's not and now I have to look at them every year for who knows how long.

So let's back up a month or so ago when my crafty sister sucked me into her plan. Let's make stockings with cute little designs and danglies and bows and bedazzling and... Lesson #1: Listening to your crafty sister is never a good idea. So we gather up the JoAnns coupons and our multitude of ideas and set out. After an afternoon of indecision we left with a bunch of stuff that I had no ideas what to do with. Lesson #2: 2 indecisive girls, 2 grumpy kids, and too many ideas and options are not a good mixture. Bring on the stress and grumbling. The one good thing I did was to buy quality stockings from Kohls, so they didn't end up looking like a foot was already stuck in it like Stephanie's did. After more whining about sizes and designs, I settled on a Christmas tree and snowflakes. Now what to do with these shapes. My decision was not the best. Lesson #3: Metallic thread, fleece, and blanket stitching should never be in the same thought. After a week of blistered fingers I ended with finished shapes that were not cut even, wouldn't stay flat, and looked nothing like what was in my mind. Let's skip the 3 weeks that I hated them so much I didn't even look in the direction of their secluded corner. Finally I realized Christmas was a week away and I needed something that I could claim was a stocking. I took everything to my sister's because this whole fiasco was her idea anyway and I am not creative that I need her approval on everything. She glued it all on in her whimsical way, my way of saying not straight or in an orderly fashion, stuck a few extras on, and went crazy with the only thing that fixes anything. Lesson #4: Glitter glue makes everything look better. I had the thought to use it when we first started, but it was what my mom would do and I want to hold off a few more years before I completely have her train of thoughts. However, I gave in and glitterized the stockings.

So you are probably wondering what these Christmas disasters look it. Actually they didn't turn out too bad, thanks to Stephanie. Have a look.



So what if I want them to say Mom and Dad in a few years? I think I am out of luck, those things are stuck on good.

Our First Christmas Tree

On Saturday we set out to find a small, cheap Christmas tree (a Charlie Brown tree). Good thing we had a gift card to Tony's Grove Nursery and they had poor people trees outside in a lonely corner. We found the one just for us and brought it home, tied to the top of the car. In Bob's excitement to get it off, he stabbed himself in the hand with his pocketknife. The tree was abandoned for a moment while my fabulous first aid skills kept Bob from bleeding to death. After filling the stand and adjusting the angle, we had a tree to look at.


Bob headed off to work and I put the lights on. I am very particular about these kinds of things and I didn't trust Bob to do it my way :) Sunday night, we officially trimmed the tree with ornaments from our pasts. We had a good time sharing the memories associated with them.

Yay for our first Christmas!