Homemade Christmas stockings

[CynthiaBelle]

Here's what I wouldn't do. I wouldn't (1) Lose/throw them away and I wouldn't (2) spin Grandma some line about moths or candles or whatever destroying them. Here's what I might do. Either (1) put up with them, because what's most important is that they were made with love or (2) put the handmade stockings in the girls' rooms and buy some smart matching ones for your fireplace if that's important to you.

Probably, I wouldn't do anything at all. With five kids all of varying ages and artistic ability, our house is crammed with homemade Christmas stuff of varying degrees of tackiness, and I don't really mind: I'd rather see the stuff there than have a fancy, designer-type Christmas. But I think putting them up in the girls' room would work just as well, and could even be sold to Grandma ("we put the PROPER stockings up by the girls beds, we bought these cheap factory-made ones just to put on the fireplace for show")

I agree. =) Spinning some story is going to be worse than anything else.

And purposly destroying them is cold and mean.

[Just Lori]

OP here.  Don't worry, I'm not going to lie to my mom about the stockings.  The irony is that our whole house is decorated with candle holders made out of baby food jars and tissue paper, assorted snow globes from discount stores and other decorations accumulated over the years.  I'm not a decorator by any stretch.  In fact, the stockings are accompanied by a heinous drugstore-quality stocking made out of rough fabric that would probably go up in flames if you lit a candle near it.  My youngest decreed that this was her baby doll's stocking, and went so far as to write her baby doll's name (in 5-year-old print) on the stocking with a Sharpie.  Yes, this is our decor.

So Grandma's stockings aren't killing any big interior design.  I guess I'm just jealous when I walk into a home where everything is nicely done, and the stockings are an easy target.

[ZipTheWonder]

Wrap the other things up in tissue and put them in a plastic shoe box.  Buy a new tree skirt and matching stockings for the whole family.  You've decided to start being a decorator. 

[dawbs]

someone else mentioned, and I also have to ask...what do the kids think?

I have the "good" stocking that Mr. Dawbs got for me hanging in it's place....

But there's also the cheap, ratty, old stocking with my name, badly mis-spelled, on in glitter (by my great aunt--who never came to our house at Christmas time, no feelings that needed to be spared) for my first Christmas hanging prominently. 
My parents got us "new" stockings repeatedly over the years, but always let us choose which of those stockings to put up...and my sisters and I have always put up the originals.
Still do.
(and Great-Aunt Reva is probably amused by this to this day)

You'd sometimes be surprised how attached kids are to their traditions, regardless of the tacky factor.

[Just Lori]

someone else mentioned, and I also have to ask...what do the kids think?

I have the "good" stocking that Mr. Dawbs got for me hanging in it's place....

But there's also the cheap, ratty, old stocking with my name, badly mis-spelled, on in glitter (by my great aunt--who never came to our house at Christmas time, no feelings that needed to be spared) for my first Christmas hanging prominently. 
My parents got us "new" stockings repeatedly over the years, but always let us choose which of those stockings to put up...and my sisters and I have always put up the originals.
Still do.
(and Great-Aunt Reva is probably amused by this to this day)

You'd sometimes be surprised how attached kids are to their traditions, regardless of the tacky factor.

Sigh.  Of course the kids are attached to them.  They attach themselves to everything remotely traditional about the holidays.

Case in point.  Years ago, when my oldest was a baby, we were struggling to live on one income.  It was possible, but we cut out every little expense, including meals out.  On Christmas Eve, we decided to treat outselves - to Wendy's.  A single with cheese never tasted so good.

As the years went on, we continued to splurge on Wendy's for Christmas Eve.  Money became less of an issue, and we went out to eat more often, even to real, sit down restaurants.  But on Christmas Eve, we were usually in a rush and needed something quick for dinner.  Wendy's it was.

A year or so ago, I suggested that perhaps we could do something different from Wendy's.  Singles with cheese are great, but my 40-year-old stomach (and waistline) can only take so many of them.  The girls were horrified.  "We have to go to Wendy's.  It's a tradition!"

Which is why you'll find our family at Wendy's on Christmas Eve.  The servers always seem less than thrilled when we walk into the empty restaurant at 7 p.m. Christmas Eve.  Little do they know the important role they play in my children's holiday memories.

[dawbs]

someone else mentioned, and I also have to ask...what do the kids think?

I have the "good" stocking that Mr. Dawbs got for me hanging in it's place....

But there's also the cheap, ratty, old stocking with my name, badly mis-spelled, on in glitter (by my great aunt--who never came to our house at Christmas time, no feelings that needed to be spared) for my first Christmas hanging prominently. 
My parents got us "new" stockings repeatedly over the years, but always let us choose which of those stockings to put up...and my sisters and I have always put up the originals.
Still do.
(and Great-Aunt Reva is probably amused by this to this day)

You'd sometimes be surprised how attached kids are to their traditions, regardless of the tacky factor.

Sigh.  Of course the kids are attached to them.  They attach themselves to everything remotely traditional about the holidays.

Case in point.  Years ago, when my oldest was a baby, we were struggling to live on one income.  It was possible, but we cut out every little expense, including meals out.  On Christmas Eve, we decided to treat outselves - to Wendy's.  A single with cheese never tasted so good.

As the years went on, we continued to splurge on Wendy's for Christmas Eve.  Money became less of an issue, and we went out to eat more often, even to real, sit down restaurants.  But on Christmas Eve, we were usually in a rush and needed something quick for dinner.  Wendy's it was.

A year or so ago, I suggested that perhaps we could do something different from Wendy's.  Singles with cheese are great, but my 40-year-old stomach (and waistline) can only take so many of them.  The girls were horrified.  "We have to go to Wendy's.  It's a tradition!"

Which is why you'll find our family at Wendy's on Christmas Eve.  The servers always seem less than thrilled when we walk into the empty restaurant at 7 p.m. Christmas Eve.  Little do they know the important role they play in my children's holiday memories.

If it makes you feel better (or worse) I plan on eating pizza Christmas Eve, per the usual.
(a tradition started when my grandma got sick the first time)
and then opening my ratty misspelled Christmas stocking 

[Just Lori]

If it makes you feel better (or worse) I plan on eating pizza Christmas Eve, per the usual.
(a tradition started when my grandma got sick the first time)
and then opening my ratty misspelled Christmas stocking 

Why yes, it does make me feel better.

I once read in one of those women's magazines that the consistency of the traditions can be more important than the traditions itself.  I believe the author encouraged people to quit knocking themselves out for the holidays.  "If all you do is heat up a frozen pizza on Christmas Eve, your kids will someday feel nostalgic over their Christmas Eve frozen pizza!"

Maybe there's some truth to that one.

[twinkletoes]

I like the other suggestions above.  I guess I can only say that at least it's something you only have to display for a few weeks out of the year - there are many stories here about "My (relative/friend) made a fugly vase/picture frame/figurine, and she wants me to display it all the time!"

[Camarynne]

Ya know what's weird, and this could just be me and might not apply to anyone else but...it seems like sometimes, those things that we look at and just cringe inside somehow end up becoming very cherished possessions in time.

[oogyda]

We have stockings.  Special ones, knit by my grandmother way before I can remember.  Everyone.......her children, their spouses and the grandchildren got one the year she decided to do this.  She would make another for each grandchild as they came along. 

Grandma lived long enough to knit additional ones for the great-children as they came along as well as grand-children's spouses.  At my request, she made several for me that didn't have names on them (I can do that) so even though she passed a few years ago, MY grandchildren are now getting the stockings.  These are very special Christmas stockings to those in my family.

That said.....at some point I decided to coordinate my decorations a bit.  I made a tree skirt, table runners, decorations and stockings that looked wonderful through the whole season.  On Christmas Eve, we put our homemade stockings out for the actual filling process. 

That's a really long way of saying do what you want for decorating purposes but keep the use of the stockings for tradition's sake.

[Scritzy]

When I was a kid, Mother would take Sissie and me to the dime store and get those red nylon net stockings that were filled with horrid candy and cheap plastic toys. We were allowed to empty the stockings (I remember we used the matching plastic snowmen as decorations for years), then hang them up on Christmas Eve. So we had a different one every year, but they all looked the same. And they were always filled on Christmas with the same thing: an apple, an orange, a banana and a handful of mixed nuts in the shell.

A few Christmases ago, I bought some of the nylon net stockings and filled three of them with the fruit and nuts and gave them to Mother, BIL and Sissie on Christmas Eve. I didn't expect it to revive the tradition, but it was fun anyway.

Not too many years into our marriage, I made Chip a 3-ft long patchwork stocking with his name cross-stitched on the cuff. The next year I made one for myself. I used to hang up stockings for the dogs and cats, but that is no longer practical. In fact, hanging our big stockings is no longer practical because they would get shredded to death. So we each fill the other's stocking and hide said stocking in closets or my office. We open them on Christmas morning.

[JordanX]

  The irony is that our whole house is decorated with candle holders made out of baby food jars and tissue paper, assorted snow globes from discount stores and other decorations accumulated over the years.  I'm not a decorator by any stretch.  So Grandma's stockings aren't killing any big interior design.  I guess I'm just jealous when I walk into a home where everything is nicely done, and the stockings are an easy target.

Keep the stockings.  I'd take your house's decorations with all the homemade, mismatched, memorable stuff over the Martha Stewart version any day. 

I also like the lesson this teaches your kids--to place value on the meanings of things, not their outward appearances.  This lesson is increasingly harder to teach in today's materialistic world, and you have a perfect opportunity.

You will have plenty of years when the kids have grown to decorate with your visions of "beautiful" and "perfect"--but my guess is by then you may miss your mom's stuff (or maybe not    )

[amanda_tlg]

My own 25 yr old stocking is also a creation of my mother's. It is horrible. Green felt with sequins & beads and not-quite-geometric designs. But I love it. It's not Christmas if I don't have it hanging up.

Growing up at home, our house was filled with tacky, handmade-by-kids decorations and our tree looked like Big Lots threw up all over it with the garish ornaments and 32 pounds of tinsel. Mom used to joke that she couldn't wait until she could decorate to her tastes.

Now, my house is the one with construction paper Santa's and cotton ball snowmen. My tree has the weird, goofy and kid-made ornaments. I love it. My mother now has a "tastefully" decorated theme tree in lovely silvers blues & mauve's. And wouldn't you know it.....she likes mine better.

[Bibliophile]

You could always order a set of the needlepoint stockings that are customizeable - get one for each family member with their name on it - let the kids help pick theirs out.  Tell mom that you wanted to have matching stockings.  I like the idea of letting the kids decorate their own rooms - and then they can put the stocking in there...  We also grew up with the construction paper chains and popcorn chains on the tree, but when it came to the stockings, mom got the pretty needlepoint ones (back when they really didn't sell them, they only sold the pattern, but she talked the sewing store into selling her the demo - mom can't sew).

[Harriet Jones]

Not too many years into our marriage, I made Chip a 3-ft long patchwork stocking with his name cross-stitched on the cuff. The next year I made one for myself. I used to hang up stockings for the dogs and cats, but that is no longer practical. In fact, hanging our big stockings is no longer practical because they would get shredded to death. So we each fill the other's stocking and hide said stocking in closets or my office. We open them on Christmas morning.

Scritzy - did you have a pattern for the big stocking?  I've been looking around at patterns and nothing's really floating my boat