Christmas Stockings
Traditionally Christmas stockings are hung on the mantelpiece around a fireplace so Santa can come down the chimney and put gifts in the stockings for everyone. They are also know as Christmas socks.
In days gone by every sock has an orange and a piece of coal in the toe. This symbolized food and warmth for the year. These days we are just as likely to give a Terry’s chocolate orange and we always give chocolate coins or money in envelopes.
Traditionally the Christmas colours are red and green as these are the colours of holly. Holly is the main shrub with red berries and glossy green leaves that grows through the winter months and is available to take into your house for decoration at Christmastime.
Each stocking is embroidered with the person’s name so Santa has no problem working out whose is whose so he gets the gifts right. Well that’s the theory.
There many ways to make Christmas socks and here are the ones I’ve made for my family over the years.
Crochet stockings
Red crochet sock for Mom and striped crochet sock for Dad
Knitted stockings
Knitted socks for the kids.
The inspiration for the socks were from two were bought by my mother years ago in Johannesburg from a craft market. They are the inspiration for the other two kids stocking which I knitted when they were born, and that is over twenty years ago now.
I tried to make the second two socks similar to the first two socks because the younger children liked to have the same as the older children.
I am not really a knitter and these are about as fancy I I get with a pair of needles.
How to trim a Christmas tree
We put up our family Christmas tree on the first Saturday of December every year. We have a “Trim the Tree” party where we order in food (which is actually a treat as we usually cook every meal in our home and don’t get takeout often).
We start at 5pm when the family arrives and it takes the whole evening to get the tree beautiful.
Every year you need to have a new ornament relating the what you did that year. This special ornament often has the year on it.
- Open all the branches and straighten.
- Add lights and check them by switching them on. Then switch them off.
- Add tinsel by draping from one branch to the next like smiles.
- Ad baubles.
- Add chocolate ornaments
- Switch on lights and say, “ohhh… and ahhh…”
Add the Christmas angel to the top. We have a Christmas book and write down each year which child added the angel and whose turn it is this year. The kids love to be the one to add the angel. Take family photos around the tree and it is done.
All that is left is to eat the food and have a drink. Cheers!