The story of my snowman stocking

My mother commented in the Stocking swap post that she had forgotten that I still had my stocking. I got my stocking this particular Christmas - or so I thought! Here I am, that adorable little blonde headed girl standing on the fireplace hearth at my Grandparents house. I'm thinking that this is the Christmas of 1969 and I'm 3 years old.

I believe that I got the stocking after this event - we just took it home along with all of the gifts -- One of which being those awesome suitcases. I remember using those for years!

so back to the stocking.


This is a close up of the stocking in the photo above. This is the stocking I thought was mine.

This is a picture of the stocking I currently have. They are not the same! I had never noticed that before!



In the photo (the larger one) there is a faint line of red on the other side of the fireplace, so the stocking I have may have been on that side...but I always thought I had a picture of me and my stocking.

Here's another piece of the story.

The stocking I have says "Matt" on the inside. My Uncle Matthew has been married for quite awhile (three of their children have graduated from High School) and for most of those years, I have avoided telling him that I have his stocking. Every year I'd put the stocking up and feel just a tad guilty that I had it. I told his wife, my Aunt Marg and she told me not to worry about it, but I still thought I should ask Matthew. I think it was last year when I finally told him that I had his stocking and this is what he had to say about that!

He said that only three stocking were made. The girls, Judy (my mother), Jane and Gail were the ones who got those stockings. Matthew and his brother Alan had other stockings or shared with the girls - he couldn't quite remember. He said that when his sisters stopped living at home, he put his name in one of the stockings. He never really claimed any of the stockings - so he was more than happy to let me keep the stocking - especially since I've had the darned thing for about 39 years now!

When I look at the back of the stocking, I almost always just see a little weird green snowflake ladder . I rarely think much of it because the back side rarely shows.

Because I was taking pictures of it today, I had it turned sideways and that's when I noticed that the ladder wasn't a ladder at all. The snowflakes spell out the words Merry Christmas! Maybe I have noticed it before, but I forget each year (this is highly likely) but I doubt I will forget again, now that I have it written down and photographed.




I truly love this stocking. It is made from a piece of fabric that was preprinted in the shape of the stocking - it had cut lines and everything. So all someone had to do was cut out the two sides of the stocking and sew it together.

It is by far one of my favorite holiday decorations. It is even better now that I don't have any guilt in owning it! Thanks Matthew!

Have a wonderful week!
Kristin