Stocking Stuffing

Christmas 2012

I had so much fun stuffing these cute little stockings last night after my little ones had gone to bed!! They are great inexpensive additions to the gifts under the Christmas tree!!!

The origin of the Christmas stocking came from a popular legend about a generous villager by the name of Saint Nick. It is said that he would climb roof tops in the middle of cold winter nights and throw gold coins down the chimney's of the less-fortunate. These gold coins would land in the stockings that the commoners hung by their fireplaces and it brought cheer to many children in the village on Christmas Day.

I have 2 children and four stockings lol. That's how PACKED these stockings are! Of course they had to be hung by the fire place and they do their job in adding to the Christmas spirit.

Just looking at them underneath the white Christmas lights takes me back in time to my childhood when I desired simple things like this. I don't remember many Christmas mornings where I had a load of Christmas gifts under a beautifully decorated tree. Christmas just wasn't heavily celebrated in my family due to lack of finances. I wish I had memories of a 8ft tall tree decorated with 1000 lights, 1000 more ornaments, sprayed in artificial snow and adorned with more presents than I could visibly count underneath. I wish.
My family was poverty stricken and with a single parent mother who's only income was disability, we just could never afford it. We had what we needed to survive and that was about it. We were happy with what we had because we knew nothing else. "You can't miss what you never had", right?

You can go your whole life without those "precious moments" and sadly they will become unimportant to you.  The entire preparation stages of Christmas will mean nothing to you. The tree, the shopping expierence, decorating, cooking, gift wrapping….it will all mean nothing. In circumstances as such, when you grow older you have to be careful not to fall into that poverty stricken mind frame of "have nothing, do nothing".

That's an unfortunate way of thinking and for years I was like this because of my childhood. I would celebrate Christmas but at the bare minimum. I didn't have the genuine love for the traditions of the holiday embedded in my soul because I was never fortunate enough to practice it as a youngin. Now in my adulthood I have learned to simply make due with what you have. You can make a little go a very long way if you are creative and thoughtful. It's not about how much money you spend but merely about the "love" that you put into those gestures around this holiday.

The spirt of Christmas is NOT all about buying gifts but traditions surrounding this holiday give you something so much more precious and that's--Great Memories.

The Tree-- The Centerpiece for Christmas. It is the most recognized symbol for the holiday. 

The Gifts-- Material things aren't the most important things in life and we all know this, hopefully. Gift giving dates back to the birth of Jesus when the wise men presented baby Jesus with gifts, these were the first gifts exchanged on this day which is now a huge tradition the Christmas holiday. When searching for that special gift for a loved-one you should be looking for something meaningful, something that you know they will enjoy. Something that's sure to put a smile on their face. Search for something that they will get great use out of. Gift Giving requires you to be Thoughtful and thoughtfulness is a beautiful part of the holidays.  It's about taking a moment away from "yourself" to think of someone else.

Decorating-- The decorative lights and candles symbolize Christ as he is the light that brightens the Earth. The wreath's most symbolic feature is it's shape: the circle, which has no beginning and no end which is equivalent to eternity and God's love for us. The mistletoe is in invitation of Love. Christmas Angels represents the shepherds at the birth of Jesus. Christmas cards are decorated and covered with meaningful pictures and thoughtful words. The cookies are presented as simple tokens of love and appreciation. The icicles date back to an old story about when Christ was a child and one frosty winter night he had to find shelter under a pine tree, when the tree realized that it was sheltering the son of God, it shed tears and the tears froze under the cold night air and turned to icicles. The Christmas Star represents the Star of Bethlehem which guided the 3 Wise Men to Jesus on the night of his birth. 


Christmas Dinner-- Cooking a festival meal is the best way to gather loved ones and celebrate the reasons for the season together as a family. The pictures taken and the memories created will most definitely last a lifetime.



Happy Holidays everyone! Remember to give with your hearts and Love with the Love of God. I hope  you enjoyed my article and I pray that you share it along the way:)
Peace, Blessings and a Merry Christmas to all of you!

Posted in: Family