New Traditions With Christmas Stockings

Hanging Christmas stockings is a precious holiday tradition and we all treasure our childhood memories of Christmas stockings. Family traditions are never more meaningful than during the Christmas holidays. Repeating special traditions during this time of the year brings a sense of unity and belonging to your family throughout the season. For younger children in your family the importance of your own family traditions is a priceless way to create memories that they will treasure forever and, hopefully, pass on to their own children in the future.

If you don't have Christmas traditions from your own childhood to pass down to your children, then begin traditions of your own this year. You will never regret making this effort. Traditions don't have to have anything to do with costing you more money or buying more stuff. It's about the time you take to spend together as a family and create memories.

The tradition of hanging Christmas stockings can be expanded on by adding your own special family touches. I began wrapping each tiny gift that is slipped inside a stocking to keep the kids busy on Christmas morning when they woke up too early.

My kids always knew that if they got up way to early on Christmas morning (the rule was anyone that got up before 5:00 a.m. because getting up with then at 3:00 a.m. was killing me!) they could sneak in and open the gifts that were in their stockings from Santa.

Another tradition was that there would be an orange in the very bottom of the stocking(along with a toothbrush) and I was always surprised that they peeled and ate that orange while they sat and opened all of the little packages in the dark early morning hours under the light of the Christmas tree. The first time I thought they were too old to have to use the "filler" orange anymore (at about age 14!) they were quite disappointed and told me that they "always" wanted to have the orange in the bottom of their stocking. Every year, no matter what, (my oldest is now 25) I place an orange in the bottom of everyone's stocking. Funny thing is that now our entire family associates the smell of peeled oranges with Christmas morning. It's nice.

A simple and meaningful tradition is the Christmas stocking. Although Christmas stockings have been around forever you can create a new tradition within your own family by focusing on the stockings that your family hangs each year.

Making you stockings together will build lasting memories that will be added to each year when you hang your stockings. There are many ways to include your children, no matter their age group, in the process of making the Christmas stockings this year.

Whether you decide that everyone's stockings will match or each person will choose how to design their stocking themselves is the first thing you'll need to decide. Keep in mind that, ultimately, it doesn't matter how the stockings end up when they are all hung together. Once you have a few years worth of memories hanging within those stockings it won't matter in the least what they truly look like. It's the love that goes into the process that is going to show in their reflection.

There are many types of Christmas stocking kits available online. These will come with all of the supplies necessary to create your stockings so will not require as much running around to gather materials as making your own would. You'll have to decide which type best suits your family and the time you have available.  There are cross stitch Christmas stockings, felt appliqué Christmas stockings and embroidered Christmas stockings available in kit form.

While deciding what type of Christmas stockings that you are going to create with your family you might want to think about if you want each stocking to be personalized. There's just something so fulfilling for kids to look up and see their very own name on their very own stocking. Many stocking kits will come with the option of adding a name. For those that don't you can easily add your child's name across the top of the stocking with some stitchery or glued on felt letters.

A fun idea is to let each of your kids decide which sort of decorations they want on their stocking. This is a great way to mix it up and let each child personally individualize their own stocking. This makes the entire tradition even more meaningful. Making their own stocking is something they'll always remember, be sure to let them be a major factor in the design of their stocking.  Personalized Christmas stockings are the greatest way to display each child's favorite things.

If you are a creative family and you have the time and resources, creating your very own Christmas stockings from scratch is a wonderful experience for everyone. If you'd like to limit how much time this will take, you can buy some plain, basic Christmas stockings that don't have much decoration and then add your own fun stuff that your kids love.

Kids will want to add lots of shiny things and Christmas figures. Felt snowmen, Santas, bells, cookies; all of these will add lots of color and personal preference to each child's stocking. Felt cutouts can be easily glued to the fabric of your standard stocking. Beads and other baubles can be stitched on by an older sibling or by Mom and Dad.

Having lots of detail things for each child to choose from will thrill your kids while making their own stockings together. Have a glue gun ready to use (away from the kids), have the basic stocking all ready to decorate and after a couple hours of family fun and decorating you've got a new family tradition begun.

There will be nothing more precious to your children than the memories of making their own stocking, hanging with their family each year of their childhood, and then continuing to be able to hang their childhood stocking when their grown and have their own families. This is a gift you will give them that will last forever and one they'll be sure to pass down through future generations. Enjoy your family this holiday season!