Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Nativity Stockings

Jane at Out of the Crayon Box put up a post about stockings, which reminded me that I need to get stockings made for Boy and Sweet Pea.

Updated to add and updated picture taken 2010:

My husband and I decided a while ago that we would emphasize the religious part of Christmas as much as we can in our home, since the kids will get plenty of the less religous part of Christmas elsewhere. We don't have anything against Santa Clause and happily display things we've been given as gifts, but we don't actively seek out Santa decorations.

I started our stockings before we had kids. I wanted ones that had some kind of matching theme...but that I could continue to add matching ones later as we had kids. We decided to do "Nativity" stockings, with a stocking for Baby Jesus. The idea is that through December we do gifts for Baby Jesus by doing service for others, write those on a piece of paper, and put them in Baby Jesus's stocking.

So far we've got Baby Jesus with His own stocking, Joseph (Dad), Mary (Mom), and a Shepherd Girl (Firecracker). (Baby Jesus has been kindly sharing with Boy the last two years for Christmas morning, so it was really time to make more stockings.) Here's what they look like:

And here's what they look like on our former bookshelf now puppet theater...hmmm...will they hang on the puppet theater this year too?

I made them mostly out of cotton calicos using applique. The patterns for the figures are just coloring pages I got of the internet...so if you want to make a stocking with a different pattern, all you need to do is find a simple kids' coloring page you like. I'm in the process of making an Angel for Sweet Pea and a Wise Man for Boy and taking pictures as I go along, so I can post a tutorial. So if you're interested check back! This will most likely be my last craft project before the big move to central Washington because I just found out I'm scoring essays for the rest of the month in addition to packing. Yikes!

Jane shared this awesome idea in one of her comments
"I wanted to share my cousin's stocking tradition. They do not do Santa at all with their four kids. Instead, they hang the stockings and they all conspire to sneak treats for each other in them through out the days leading to Christmas. It's just a family tradition. She might sneak a pack of goldfish crackers in there one day for the kiddies. The next day her hubby might sneak a small goody for her. It's all about the fun of surprising each other and delighting in gift giving-small scale."
I love, LOVE, LOVE this idea. I think it goes great with the idea of giving gifts of service to Baby Jesus, and there aren't many things Firecracker loves more than being sneaky with surprises...except she'd be so anxious for us to find something she left, she'll probably tell us right away. Thanks for the suggestion, Jane!

Please show my sponsors some love...
ELF OWL, 8x10 - From NJoyArt
Fat Quarter Bundle of Joy - From Sisters and Quilters
The True Reason for the Season - Art Print from Prints of Peace

6 comments:

  1. Your stockings are awesome! I *love* the idea of a stocking for Baby Jesus! So glad there are many ways to celebrate the holidays without anyone feeling like they missed out on some fun!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I like the idea about whenever from whoever surprises in stockings. Maybe we'll start that for the month of December as well as stockings Christmas morning. I think I'D be a little sad if we skipped out on that. Then again, this will be the first year of my life when either Bryan or I will be filling my own stocking.

    Also, did you use a pattern for sewing the stockings (not the pictures, just the sock part) or did you just wing it? I want to make one for the big O, maybe out of some pretty scraps. Maybe some for Bryan and me too. Can't decide.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Katie, I did use a pattern from a book...which is now packed...so I'm going to make a new pattern based off the others because I want them to be the same size. When I get the pattern made, I'll post it and email it to you...or you can make one based off an already made one with a shape you like.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Cute stockings! I also like the Baby Jesus idea! Have a great day!

    ReplyDelete
  5. CUTE idea to do a stocking for baby Jesus! I think that's the most important part of Christmas that gets overlooked the most... service to others! Thanks for the great reminder! This is adorable!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have been looking for Nativity inspired stocking for my grandchildren!! Do you have any more tuts for these? I wonder if you could use iron on fusion webbing instead of appliquing them?
    I feel exactly how you do about all the other decorations for Christmas. I have Nativity scenes in every rooom - sometimes more than one. I sort of collect them! :)

    I don't know what all that stuff means on the "comment as"
    Keith- a girl with a boys name- bry8082@msn.com - don't have a blog

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment. I love hearing from you. I also love responding, so please make sure your Blogger account is set up for me to be able to see your email address or include your email address. I've had to stop accepting anonymous comments due to spam. If you don't have any other way to comment, you can always send an email.