stockings for a complicated but very merry holiday

Yesterday I finished making stockings for each of my three children, and for the sake of my sewing buddies Tong and Sheila -- in whose company I drafted the pattern and got 3/4 of the way through construction -- here are some preliminary shots of the finished objects.

I will try to get better shots tonight or tomorrow morning, once we have devised a way of hanging these along the bannister (no fireplace in this house!).  And hopefully I will have our point-and-shoot back in circulation by then; these phone photos leave a lot to be desired, and make the Coolpix seem like a sophisticated piece of photographic equipment.

For now, here is Chloe's (she chose something classy rather than cute):

And Jackson's (who had no strong preference, so I chose something wintery):

And finally Frida's, a celebration of holiday baking more elaborate than anything likely to happen in our kitchen:

So the kids will have stockings to fill tonight, for the first time in many years.

I should explain that our holidays are fairly complicated: our completely-secular-but-holiday-loving blended family celebrates Hanukkah, although nothing elaborate, and generally without nightly presents; we have developed our own invented version of St. Nicholas day (when the tree magically appears overnight); and then there's Christmas -- which my older two kids split between our household and their dad's (about an hour away).

So the plan tonight and tomorrow morning is to keep the presents meaningful but minimal (as always), to explore the stockings and a gift each together tomorrow morning with Grandma and Grandpa (who are only minutes away!!), and then Jackson and Chloe will be heading out of town for about a  week.  Back here we'll have a big breakfast and then Frida can finish up the present un-wrapping.  I think this should work well, since she needs a lot of time to digest each and every present.

Whatever you and your family are doing tonight and tomorrow, I hope it is joyful for all.  I was just rereading some old posts and comments last night, and it reminded me of how generous-spirited my readers are.  Thank you so much for reading all of this at all (it still amazes me!), and for your kind comments and wise suggestions.  I truly appreciate it.

Happy holidays!