Homemade Christmas stockings

[mbbored]

What do your girls think?

My older sister & brother have stockings my mom knit for them when they were babies.  By the time I came along, Mom had run out of patience for that type of thing.  Little bro has a stocking that was cross-stitched by his godmother.  Mine is a poorly made stocking bought in bulk by my preschool teacher to give to each of her students. 

Do I feel upset that I don't have a nice handmade stocking?  Nope.  Twice my mother has tried to replace mine with something nicer, and each time I refuse.  Miss Teacher gave it to me, it's my very own, and that's it in my mind.

[Scritzy]

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 

No pattern. I just sewed a lot of patches together, cut them in the shape of a stocking and lined them with pre-quilted material. Then I used white quilted material for the cuff, and cross-stiched on it using waste canvas.

You could take a normal stocking, trace around it and take it to Kinko's and get it blown up on the huge (blueprint) copier machine.

[fluffy]

If your daughters love the stockings and you are worried that it might hurt your mother's feelings, then I would start somewhere else to fancy up your holiday decorations.

What about a fancy new tree skirt? Or a set of matching bulbs to go on the tree and tie things together?

[vandalfan]

Have your Mom over to your house some time before Dec. 25, and make all new stockings for everybody. Make her one, too, so you can all match.

[RainhaDoTexugo]

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.

There's definitely some truth to that one!  When I was a kid, every year my mom bought us each a box of those chocolate covered cherries for our stockings.  I'll be 25 this Christmas, haven't lived at home for about 7 years, and I don't even really like those cherries anymore, but it's still not Christmas for me without them. 

OP, with the added information, I definitely think that the stockings aren't where you should start.  Once you've gotten halfway to Martha Stewartness, then you can reassess the stockings, as your mother will already have seen that you're serious about this and it isn't just about her stockings.  An earlier poster also made an excellent point about the lesson this will teach your girls, and it's important to consider that.  As far as the girls' opinions go, I don't think you should do anything that they aren't fully happy with.  Normally I wouldn't suggest letting the kids do whatever they want, but I think they have the final say in this, and they shouldn't be forced to compromise.  My homemade stocking is nicely done (just red, green, and white crocheted granny squares in stocking shape), and it was made for me by one of my father's brothers.  Now that neither of them is alive, my stocking serves as a link to both of them.  I would never give it up, no matter who wanted me to replace it.  Your girls may one day feel the same way.

[Brentwood]

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.

Have you ever heard me wax poetic over Old Dutch potato chips and Dad's root beer for New Year's Eve? When I was a kid, that was our special NYE treat - the chips and the root beer. I still feel nostalgic and warm and fuzzy thinking about it. Lobster and champagne on New Year's Eve? Nothing compared to Old Dutch and Dad's.

[bopper]

How about you tell your husband to get these new stockings for you as a "surprise", and then if you are asked then you say that DH got them for the family and you didn't want to disappoint him.  The ones made for you are stored safely for the kids to have when the are older.