Stockings were hung with care

We have a variety of stockings in our house. Two are hung on the mantel - the cross-stitched with love ones (mine and J's).

My stocking that K made for me two years ago

We have baby stockings hanging from the corners of the TV hutch. Four puffy, playful stockings hanging over the french doors to the deck. There are three or four more in the downstairs hanging from various surfaces.

But not a single one of these stockings is actually filled on Christmas morning - they are for decoration only (I'm too afraid to use my cross-stitched one - it's too beautiful!). On Christmas Eve we each place our stockings out on our designated seats in the family room. Mine is an Odie stocking (Garfield the cat's dog buddy) that says "The More the Merrier" that I've had for 20 something years. We each take turns filling the stockings of the other two, while our sock remains hidden beneath a towel. The last person to fill the stockings removes the towels and turns out the lights.

Christmas morning we go through our stockings first, which contain practical items such as hair dye, shower gel, lip stuff, and other needed items as well as a few fun items like iTunes cards, movie tickets, and goodies. J's sock always has an orange, because that's what her childhood stocking contained.

I love our stocking tradition and also enjoy the variety of stockings that grace our home.