This will be the third and final blog in a series about quick and easy Christmas gifts our friends will love. First, however, I want to announce the winner of October’s giveaway. Congratulations Liz! You are the winner of two cute, crocheted pumpkins.
This week I want to talk about Christmas ornaments and Christmas stockings. I want to direct you to some cute tutorials I have found that you might want to try out! Stockings can be great if you put just the right goodies in them. Ornaments are a traditional gift to give. Treasured more if they are handmade.
Christmas Stockings
Let me start by saying I have wanted to make Christmas Stockings for my family for a number of years now. This year is the year to finish them. It’s crunch time!
To explain a brief history of the Christmas stocking I came across two stories that shed light on the tradition. It seems no one is quite sure exactly how it originated. In 1823 a poem called “A Visit From Saint Nicholas”, by Clement Clark Moore talked of stockings hanging from the fireplace and Saint Nick filling them.
An older story talks about how Saint Nicholas was walking through a town and heard about a poor widowed father with three girls. The father was distraught because in order for his daughters to be married, he needed money to give. Saint Nick snuck down the family’s chimney and placed gold coins in the girls socks or stockings which were hanging on the fireplace. They found the coins when they awoke the next morning. The father was relieved. His daughters now would have the means to be married. This is from an unknown origin and time, but even so, it is the most widely referenced story when it comes to the history of hanging Christmas stockings.
We have probably heard in the “old days” of our grandparents and great-grandparents hanging their socks in hopes of finding them filled with fruits, nuts, possibly candy and a small toy. Today it has become quite a tradition to hang fancy stockings purchased or made to use only at Christmas. One doesn’t need a fireplace anymore. You can find them hanging on posts, stair railing, from a shelf or on a wall with hooks.
We live in a time where fruit and nuts are easy to come by year-round. They aren’t the traditional items to place in the stockings anymore. Candy, chocolate, electronics, and gift cards are the coveted items of today! There are countless stocking styles and tutorials on Pinterest.
Christmas Ornaments:
The tradition of decorating trees with fruit, nuts, candles, and such started sometime in the 1600’s. The idea of manufactured ornaments originated in Germany by a man called Hans Greiner in and around the 1800’s. They were made of glass and he called them ‘baubles”. In the late 19th century, F.W. Woolworth brought the idea of manufactured ornaments to the United States and made millions of dollars each year selling them.
Again, here are some great ornament ideas on Pinterest.
Hope you have enjoyed this three part series on quick and easy Christmas gifts our friends will love and I hope you have been inspired and will try making some of them yourself! If you missed the first two blogs in this series you can find them Here and Here.
Have a great week and always find time to sew,
Love the history you give on your blog posts. It makes things more interesting.
Thanks Kathy!