The stockings were hung by the chimney with care

[Gerty]

A lot of work travel in December so the Christmas decorations went up earlier to normal.

Happy holidays to you and yours, fellow hunters!!!

 

[Firebird]

Our longstanding tradition is to go collect a tree the day after Thanksgiving. We decorated it yesterday while college football was on the tv. It needs some touch up but the smell and the lights really start the holiday for us. My wife spent the day making the rest of the house look festive.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I'm still bird hunting in Montana. Tree will go up when I get home. I gave up going looking/shopping for real trees the Christmas after my son and wife died. Actually, gave up on Christmas altogether for awhile. Then my grandson was born and living at my house. My daughter told me we had to have Christmas again so I bought a tree from Sears on Boxing Day. Fed up with driving around in road salt looking for a tree. Now I can walk to the garage and find one. A tradition in our family is to put an ornament in the stocking every year. I usually crafted my own. It takes a couple of days to cover that tree with memories. No other "theme" but just memories [What's with the current fixation on basketball size ornaments and ribbon wide as toiletpaper? Does the Jolly Green Giant live here?). Here's last year's tree. This year's will look about the same.

 

[Muskox]

Stockings is one of those words, that always detracts from its original intent. Everytime someone says stockings, I am thinking about leg lamps and pure unadulterated sexiness in the mind of my 7 year old self when the Christmas Story came out.

50 year old me corrupts the word the same.

We have ours up, no fireplace here. they are hung on the tv stand.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

My wife surprised me with this stocking our second Christmas together. Actually, an anniversary present two days before Christmas. I asked why she stitched my full given name on it. She always called me Pat ... or something more passionate (one way or the other). Full name filled the slot better she thought. She completed it during lunch at work over several months. When our daughter came along we both worked on a needlepoint stocking for her. Then our son. Cathy ordered a kit for herself but decided when about half way done she didn't care for the Currier & Ives pattern and wanted to find another. Sadly, she was still looking when a car accident took her. It sat in the drawer for years and one day I decided I'd finish it for my grandson. She would have liked that. I wanted to restitch my son's stocking with my granddaughter's name but my daughter said no. It lays hidden in the cedar chest. Beautiful stocking but I can't bear to hang it. He died at Christmas.

Christmas is a family time which makes it a glad time for the kids ... and a somber time for many of us who are older. We need to immerse ourselves in the youthfulness of the holiday. Make new memories for the next generation.