After I had eight or nine grandkids I started wondering if stuffing stockings for them was a bit much. I mean, after all, their parents do stockings for them already. So one year I decided to skip it. That was the year that Knox asked me a couple weeks before Christmas, “Nana, are you going to do stockings for us this year?” Well of course I told him the truth. “Of course I am.” And I have never looked back. Here are the stockings of the eight grandkids who live in the USA. Nothing like a vacant coat rack to hang them on. And here is my pile of “stuff” that I need to cram in them all. I resorted this year to some rather bulky clothing items….hope that isn’t cheating!
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What cute stockings! Did you make them or did the kids pick them out somewhere?
Very cute! If you ever need another idea for stuffers – we get the kids those big rubber ball/balloons that have the rubberband attached to them. They are 2/$1 at the drugstores and make for a fun and cheap stuffer. In the past it’s been the highlight of their day. Who’d have thought a $.50 balloon would be so valuable? You know the ones, that you hold the rubber band and can punch the ball/balloon.
Stockings are the most exciting “gift” I think. You never know what you will find inside of one and there is more than one treat.
My mom did stockings for her grandchildren, too. I don’t think it is too much.
With seven children, I have found the stair rail to be a great place to put all of ours. I just attach each to a post with a ribbon. The children grab them on their way down on Christmas morning. They don’t have to wait for parents to wake up.
Over the years I have made different batches of stockings for my kids and my husband. I consider them as technically vintage now. But these in the picture for the grandkids are store bought, and I just hang their names on them with a tag. The kids are not “attached” to any particular stocking (that I know of…), and with five grandchildren coming back to the US in a year or two from the UK, I’ll happily need to replenish my supply. I have quite a few stockings because as the children have kept coming, I keep adding. I had velvet for the girls, but then when more little girls arrived, I didn’t have enough and couldn’t find more, so they are now packed away. I like these felt ones because I can get more each year and they all seem to blend in even though they don’t perfectly match.
So cute! I love that they don’t “match”. You seem like a super fun Grandma!
Do you have any traditions for what goes in them? We always got an orange in the toe, and chapstick somewhere in there. My brothers’ little sister used to slip rocks into theirs whenever she could get away with it. Can you imagine such a bratty little creature? 😉
Our traditions are an orange (in the toe of course), a few nuts in the shells, a few pieces of wrapped chocolate, one small toy or knickknack (a Matchbox or a comb for a little boy, one of those small realistic plastic animals you see at craft stores, a lipstick or sample-sized perfume for an older girl, something along those lines), and a tree ornament.
Our stockings hang from the mantel until Christmas morning. Once they are stuffed, there is no way they’ll hang without falling. We rest them on the floor infront of the presents and Christmas tree.
Though we won’t be doing stockings this year due to a financial diet, it is what we normally do and what my parents have always done too.
Love it! So festive. My Mom still does stocking for us kids plus my three little ones now and we look forward to them as much as ever. Since we all exchange names in my family and my Mom doesn’t get to buy an actual gift for each of her kids anymore she compensates with the stocking which literally overflow with goodness! So much so that she ties a ribbon to each stocking that attaches to a gift bag on the floor. :o)
I’m a sucker for the stockings too, even for the grown up kids. They get the toothpaste, duc tape, vitamins, lint removers, highlighters, dollar store stuff. Always a Starbucks gift card. I wrap each item up (yes, I’m crazy) and we go around the room taking turns opening the small wonders. This year the highlight for the two granddaughters, ages 5 and 3, were purple and pink fuzzy capelets (Dollar store too) that they wrapped around their shoulders, waist, head, wherever. Totally worth the dollar!
Cheating!!! Are you kidding Nancy? You go Grandma!!!