Today my family is hanging out at home and decorating for Christmas: two of my favorite things.
Early this morning (right after I finished my annual online Black Friday shopping) we pulled out our tree and our boxes (and boxes and boxes) of decor and started hanging stuff up.
And then I opened the box with our stockings, and I was suddenly flooded with happy memories of our wedding day–even though I was a June bride!
An old family friend gave us two handmade Christmas stockings as a wedding gift, 11 years ago last June. (I remember her dropping the stockings off at our new home that month, saying that handmade Christmas stockings made the best wedding gifts–the couple never has their own, and no one else thinks to give them as wedding gifts–especially not for summer brides!)
I love how our Christmas decorations remind me each year of that summer we were married, and how we tell our kids again about our wedding and that special gift. And how with the arrival of each new child, we commission a new stocking to add to our mantle.
Have you received a gift that triggers memories every time you see it? Tell us about it in comments!
10 comments
That is a great wedding gift!
My mother gave us a Christmas basket the December before our wedding in June. In it, she had two hand-made stockings that we still hang each year. Although I have always been a Christmas person and I had loads of Christmas ornaments coming into our marriage, one woman who worked with my dad and had watched me grow up, took the time to cross stitch 6 Christmas ornaments for our first Christmas married. Every year when I hang them on our tree, I think of her and her kind thoughts. Very special! 🙂
I love this post! We have handmade stockings too and I love them! They were actually a baby gift for me when I had Libby! 🙂 This year we are going to have to try to get our friend to make another one for the newest member of our family – our dog!
Pulling out the Christmas decor always brings back memories for me too! I love pulling out each and every one of our mismatched ornaments and recalling the memories behind them – new baby, special vacations (I try to buy one every time we’re on a vacation!), ornaments that Libby has made over the years…it’s such fun! I may not have one of the prettiest Christmas trees (you know, the kind with the coordinating ornaments and such) but it’s the meaning behind everything on our Christmas tree that makes it beautiful in our eyes!
Quick question as a side note…I think I’ve decided to attempt making the Guess Who game for Libby’s dad’s family (I may have to request some more pictures!) but was wondering…are you just going to buy the regular Guess Who game and then fill it with your own pictures? Thanks so much for sharing that wonderful idea!
Sarah, you should see our Christmas tree! It is definitely not magazine-worthy, but all the ornaments have meaning. And it’s beautiful, to me if to no one else!
I was totally going to buy the regular Guess Who and insert my photoshopped pics from there. (And it’s on sale for $8 this week at Target.)
There are too many to count right here, but there is one gift that sticks out. We got married this past June 25, and our close friend’s mother gave us a beautiful “rug” (is that what you call it?) that goes under the Christmas tree that she made herself. We were so touched and surprised at the thought she put into her gift. We weren’t going to get a tree this year, but now I’m thinking we about have to because I want to display that rug so badly. It’s beautiful!
Kendra, I’m so jealous! I pinned a darling Christmas tree skirt from Pinterest way back in August thinking I might get one made….and I haven’t. I’m thinking I might just make one in January while I still have Christmas on the brain!
Do the tree–if only so you can put out the tree skirt. I would love to see a picture if you have one!
Kendra, they are called tree skirts. My cousin gave my husband and I one for our wedding. Like the stockings, they are something newlyweds do not get as gifts. My cousin does tree skirts for everyone she knows that is getting married.
Tree skirts, stockings and ornaments are unique gifts and you do not have to worry about giving a duplicate gift.
I have LOTS of gifts that spark memories! I try to associate every gift with the giver and to think of them every time I use it, but I’m more successful with some than others.
My paternal grandmother made stockings for my parents, brother, and me, which we have used every year. My brother’s and mine were made for our respective first Christmases, but I’m not sure when she made my parents’–I’ll have to ask! The stockings don’t match except in size. Mine is a very 1973 shade of pink felt, which reminds me that my grandmother was thrilled to have a granddaughter; she had no sisters or daughters. It has embroidered Christmas motifs with beads that just remind me of her in style.
We spent my first Christmas with my maternal grandparents, and that grandmother made me a pillow stuffed with pine needles from the tree! I still have it, stored carefully wrapped so that it still has a fragrance if you sniff closely. After my grandma died when I was a teenager, we found in her fabric stash about 2 yards of the same red fabric printed with pine twigs that she’d used to make the pillow. This has been my Christmas tablecloth all my adult life. It isn’t big enough for my table, so my brother gave me a solid dark green tablecloth, and I put the Christmas one over it and pin it into place over the middle of the table.