The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family.
~Thomas Jefferson
I had just finished hanging the last stocking when our oldest son, Jeff, walked into the living room with his new girlfriend Tammie. Tammie and Jeff had known each other since the fourth grade and had dated in high school until we moved away during their junior year.
Their paths had crossed again recently. Both were parents by this time, but no longer in relationships. It looked like a meant-to-be love story.
Now Tammie said, “Aw, I want a stocking up there, too.” She was looking at the long line of red and white stockings that reached from one end of an enormous beam to the other. My husband had sanded and polished this beam to perfection, then mounted it to the wall with gigantic wooden braces.
Each of our children, their spouses, and their children had a stocking, and each stocking holder was different, representing something unique to that person.
That wooden beam has always been the main attraction in our living room, where it extends the entire length of one wall. I display my most treasured photos on this shelf and it’s considered to be a badge of honor to make it onto “Mom’s shelf.”
At Christmastime, you know you’ve made it when your stocking is added to the long parade of red and white tacked onto that shelf.
Now Jeff took me aside so Tammie wouldn’t hear and asked, “Mom, do you happen to have an extra Christmas stocking I could use?”
After telling him that I was pretty sure we didn’t have one, I inquired as to why he was asking.
He said he had bought Tammie a diamond pendant necklace for Christmas and thought it would be fun to put it in a stocking. I didn’t have any extra matching stockings so, instead, Jeff and I fashioned one from a regular man’s sports sock. We wrote TAMMIE on it with a black permanent marker and attached a red bow to the cuff with a large safety pin.
Jeff slipped the beautifully gift-wrapped necklace into the foot of the sock and we left it in my bedroom so that I could hang it next to Jeff’s stocking on the shelf when Tammie wasn’t looking.
On Christmas morning all the kids and grandkids were there early for breakfast before opening gifts. When Tammie walked into the living room with Jeff, she couldn’t help but notice the new stocking hanging from our shelf; and there was no doubt that it was hers with the bold handwritten TAMMIE on it.
“Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Thank you so much!” she squealed with delight!
She continued her fervent babbling while running over for a closer look, “I love it! It’s perfect! This is the best Christmas ever!”
While another girl might have been offended by this stocking, Tammie understood our sense of humor well, and knew it was our way of saying, “You’re one of us, and we love you!”
Later when the kids took down their stockings to see what Santa left for them, Tammie was overjoyed with her beautiful necklace; but, quite honestly, I don’t think it got quite as enthusiastic a reaction as her stocking.
Tammie and Jeff were married by the following Christmas, and it was a blessing to hang two new stockings on our shelf for Tammie’s children.
As our family continues to grow, so does our parade of Christmas stockings. Although I’ve suggested to Tammie many times that we upgrade her stocking to a lovely store-bought one, she adamantly refuses, claiming hers is the most beautiful one on the entire shelf.
~Connie Kaseweter Pullen
