Christmas and the commercialism of the whole thing annoy some people. I, however, love Christmas, so I watch Christmas movies year round. It helps me stay motivated while I’m working on my Christmas stockings! Traditional favorites are always on the top of my list of most watched, but there have been some good ones that are pretty funny. If I would have to choose, I would pick “A Christmas Story” as my favorite traditional Christmas movie and “Christmas Vacation” would have to be my
# 1 choice for other favorites, but it has a close running with the first “Santa Claus” movie. What are your favorites?
Favorite Traditional Movies:
“It’s a Wonderful Life”
“White Christmas”
“Holiday Inn”
“The Miracle on 34th Street”
“Little Women” (sort of like a Christmas movie!)
Other Favorites:
“Christmas Vacation”
“The Santa Claus” Movies
“Christmas with the Kranks”
“The New Miracle on 34th Street”
“I’ll be Home for Christmas”
“Surviving Christmas”
“Serendipity” (sort of like a Christmas movie!)
About 7 years ago, I participated in a Christmas craft fair at the local high school and decided as part of my inventory that I would sell handmade Christmas stockings. Customers were amazed at the hand-stitching on the front and within the day, all the stockings were sold. To make a long story short, I decided to sell my Christmas stockings on the Web and opened my own online store. The first few years I was still learning about online shopping and didn’t really know how to manage the excessive amount of orders I was getting. I was very busy, not only during the holiday rush, but pretty much all year getting ready for the start of the season. I didn’t have much time to spend with my family and shocking enough, we didn’t even have a matching set of Christmas stockings of our very own! One Christmas, I worked on orders all the way up to the last possible shipping date before Christmas and did my Christmas shopping pretty much in the last few days before Christmas. Finally, it was Christmas Eve and after all the presents were placed under the tree and everyone was in bed, I stayed up all night and made five Christmas stockings for my family, all personalized and hung them by the fireplace with a little something in each one from “Santa”. The next morning when we all came down to open presents, everyone was so excited and surprised. Mind you, my kids are not little, at the time they were 22, 20, & 16. That just goes to show you, it is never too late to enjoy the tradition!
Courtney, Christine & Eric’s stockings. (Mom & Dad got one too!)
Traditionally, Christmas stockings are hung on a fireplace mantel, however many homes do not have mantels and that is where the challenge begins. First, for those who have mantels, the key is to find matching Christmas stocking hangers to hold your matching set of stockings. There are many pretty holders on the market that you can purchase, some are brass and others are ceramic or cast iron . Years ago, I found my family’s stocking holders to hang my set through the JC Penney catalog. They are very cute ceramic figurines, each with a different theme, like a snowman, santa claus, angels, christmas tree, etc… They compliment the Christmas stockings by Cotton Creations very well. They are not real heavy, so you can’t put heavy items in the stockings, but they are heavy enough to hold the stockings in place. Check JC Penney catalog during the Christmas season, they ran about $ 10.00 a piece. Of course, if you don’t want to purchase holders you can drill small holes underneath the mantel and insert a small nail or hook. You won’t even be able to see the hooks. Another idea is to string garland across the mantel and hang the Christmas stockings from that by a pretty piece of ribbon.
For those who don’t have firplaces, I suggest hanging your stockings from a wooden coat rack that has pegs. Attach the coat rack to a wall and hang the Christmas stockings from the wooden pegs by a pretty piece of ribbon. Also, if you have a stair rail or bannister, you can hang the Christmas stockings from garland draped across it. Be creative!
Christmas is definitely a time to forget about calories and enjoy the many treats that come around once a year. Cookies are always a favorite and on the Cookie Recipe page you can find some really good recipes that have originated from different ethnic groups for everyone to enjoy. When I used to do Christmas craft fairs, there was a booth that sold Greek Baklava. It was so amazing and every year, I would purchase the pastry (check out the recipe). Some other cookies that you might recognize on the recipe pages is the Scotish Shortbread and the German Springerle.
Greek Baklava
www.christmasstockingsbycottoncreations.com/christmas_cookies.htm
The tradition to bake cookies at Christmas was started by Christians around 350 AD when Pope Julius declared Dec. 25 as “Christmas”. Baking was part of the celebration and it has continued ever since. The tradition to put cookies out for Santa seemed to have started around the 1930’s when children, that were not so well behaved, left them out as a bribe for Santa to leave presents. The good kids left the cookies for Santa as a way to say thank you. Check out the Christmas legends page for more Christmas Legends and traditions.
www.christmasstockingsbycottoncreations.com./christmas_legends.htm
My kids were little once, so I know what a challenge it is to keep the kids entertained during the winter months when it is too cold to go outside. Here are a few suggestions:
1. “Guess Who” Game: Attach a picture of something or someone recognizable on the back of each child, without showing him or her. The rest of the group can see the picture and gives that person clues until he or she guesses who or what they are. It is better to take turns rather that everyone screaming out at once.
2. “Memory” Game: Place several items on a tray. Have the children look at the items for a few minutes. Cover the tray and then have them guess what was on the tray. The one that guesses the most wins.
3. “Whisper” Game: Everyone sits in a circle. You start the game by whispering a short phrase in the first person’s ear. That person then whispers the message into the next person’s ear. It continues all the way around the circle. The last person then says out loud what the message was. It is funny because by the time it reaches the end, the phrase usually is not what was originally started.
4. “Mix-Up” Game: Divide the group into two teams. One team leaves the room, and while they are out the other team mixes things up. For example: One person turns his t-shirt inside out, a lamp shade is turned upside down, a picture is hung upside down, a chair is turned in the opposite direction, etc… When the other team returns to the room. They have to guess what is out of place. If they get everything correct, they get a point, if not one point is taken away.
Every year it seems like there is something new with regards to lights at Christmastime. A few years ago icicle lights were popular, then came racing lights and net lights for bushes. Last year everywhere you looked you saw lighted lawn decorations. I don’t even want to think about the amount of energy used to create such elaborate lightly. However, some good news… Now, there are solar lights available, where you don’t even need to plug them in. This sounds like a great way to reduce energy, which has become so important these days. Christmas luminaries are another way to save energy. Flame resistant bags or containers are available to purchase, then just place a lighted candle into the bag to light up a walkway or porch. The glow is really very pretty. Visit simplyluminaries.com for luminaries you can purchase.
I don’t know if you have parents like me, but they are the most difficult people to buy gifts for. They by no means have everything, but in their words “they have everything they need”. So, when Christmastime comes around, what do you get them? Well, a few years ago my husband and I had a “lobstergram” delivered to their door. They were very surprised, because the lobster was actually alive! My mother was taken aback by the lobster, but my father thought it was really cool. He likes to cook, so he found it very challenging. Complete instructions on how to cook it was included.
We purchased a dinner package and they had plenty of left-overs. Lobster Gram was founded by “Dan the Lobster Man” in 1987. The fresh lobsters are shipped directly from Maine. You can visit his website at livelob.com.
Thank you for visiting my website and viewing my first blog. My goal is to provide visitors with an easy navagational website, while providing useful informative news during the busy Christmas season. I have ideas running through my head all the time and this gives me a chance to share my thoughts with you. My first priority however, is to provide you with Christmas stockings that you can treasure and enjoy for many years. I encourage you to visit the Customer Comments page to read what other customers have said about the Christmas stockings over the years. Please feel free to post a comment or email me with questions, comments, or concerns. Merry Christmas!