The stockings were hung ....

by the chimney with care...

FINALLY! I just finished Rebekah's stocking a few hours ago. Now we all have cross-stitched stockings.

When Clay and I got married (1999) I decided I wanted to make cross-stitched stockings for my family. I am not sure why, since my parents only bought the cheap $1 stockings for us and we used them over and over again. I looked and looked for a kit that I liked that wasn't Santa or a Goose.

Finally, I found one and started working on it. Though I knew I couldn't finish it in time for our 1st Christmas together. So instead I crocheted stockings for our first Christmas. They only took a few hours to do, and they have been used by whoever didn't have a completed stocking ever since.

Emma came along in 2002 and I still wasn't done, so I bought a cute pink & blue stripe stocking for baby's first Christmas. I finished mine in time for Christmas 2003.

On to Clay's. I liked that mine was a Christmas hymn and wanted to do something similar for Clay. We looked around a lot to find one that was a little more "manly" for him. I found a square sampler that he liked so I adjusted it to become a stocking. Clay's was completed in 2005.

With two stockings done it became a musical theme. Now the challenge was even harder to find ones that I liked. I found one with a nativity scene and a huge angel on it, so I took out the angel and added lyrics to a hymn. Rebekah joined our family in 2006, so I was still behind two stockings. Emma's was finished in time for Christmas 2007, and is my favorite one.

So here is Rebekah's, completed in 2009. It wasn't too hard except that the kit was made for a white stocking, and I needed navy blue. Oh, and the toe pointed the wrong way so I had to adjust that too.

I am officially done with all my stockings :)