I cannot remember if I was on step #4 three hours in or step #3 four hours in, but there were 94 steps to Christmas stocking completion.
Aunt Carol made mine & Jason's Christmas stocking when we were little and I was always so proud to have a beautiful Christmas stocking when everyone else had store bought. I made one for Mariah and I made Brooke's sitting next to her incubator when she was in NICU and I was told she wasn't going to live. Maybe it was then I learned to pray while stitching hours on end.
When Sofia was born, I knew, I knew, I knew, she had to have a handmade stocking. Thus, began tradition.
When my girls were little, the stockings took about 20 hours each. Nowadays, they are so much more detailed, they take an average of 50 hours each. That is early mornings and evenings for weeks!
While I'm stitching, it gives me time to pray for each grandbaby purposefully and specifically and when I hand it to them, it is my hope these stockings warm a place in their heart each year and long after I am gone.
Pretty and feminine, just like Claire, yet equal to her brother and sisters...
Their names hand-stitched on them, Rowan's on the backside of the dangling pinecone, keepsakes wrapped up and stored, and brought out each Christmas.
Their momma plays a role in the selection. A catalog of stockings arrive each Christmas. I give the book to Mariah when she's pregnant and when each baby is born and we know if they are boy or girl, Mariah picks out a couple stockings she likes best, then I pick out the one I like best out of her selection. It's a surprise for Mariah, too.
Merry Christmas, my sweet little Claire-bear! Know you are loved and I am always praying for you.
xo
