When my mother was in high school, she had to make a Christmas stocking out of felt as a project for Home Economics. It had a name at the top and cut out felt shapes decorating the front. My mom made hers for her younger brother, my Uncle Mark, so it had little boy things on it like a train and a baseball bat. My mom added a jingle bell to the train and thought she was a shoo-in for the top mark.

Then some other girl showed up who had decorated both sides, even though the assignment was only to decorate the front, and so she got an A, while the rest of the class only got a B. My mom is still really bitter about this. If that woman is ever walking down the street and she sees my mother approaching, she should cross to the other side.

Anyway, the story has a happy ending in that my mother went on to use the pattern and the idea to make Christmas stockings for everyone in her entire family. When her four daughters were born, she made each of us our own special stocking with our name on it.

I’m pretty sentimental about practically everything in my life, but these stockings are a step beyond. I’ve hung mine up every year since I was one, and it is a very big deal. Here’s my stocking, the same one I’ve had since I was a baby. It features a plate, spoon and fork (because I apparently loved to eat); a telephone, a bear, and a duck (all representing toys that I liked); and a Christmas tree (every stocking has some sort of holiday symbol on it).

When I met Sir Monkeypants many, many years ago, he once lamented to me that he never had anything with his name on it growing up, because he has an unusual name. The first year we were together, I asked my mom for the famous stocking pattern so I could make one for Sir Monkeypants. My mother was pretty reluctant to hand over the pattern — I think she didn’t really like the idea of me making one of our special family stockings for some Joe I’d only been dating for a few months. She bit her tongue and let me make one, though. When Sir Monkeypants and I got married, I think it was a huge relief to my mom that his Christmas stocking had finally been made legitimate.

Someday I will remake Sir Monkeypants’ stocking, because the stuff on his is so specific to first year university. It features a bike, a UFO, a pig, a present, and music notes.

I had a lot of fun making Sir Monkeypants’ stocking, so when my kids were born, I made theirs too. I think my mom would have liked to have done it, but I was very excited to be creating a family heirloom for my own children so I considered the torch passed. FameThrowa drew all the pictures for me and I turned them into patterns. I’m pretty FREAKIN’ PROUD of these stockings, let me tell you.

Here is the Captain’s. His pictures are of fish, a football, a snowman, a car, and his special sleep buddy, a blue monkey.

Here is Gal Smiley’s — both FameThrowa and myself consider the pony on hers to be the pinnacle of our stocking-making success. Other items include a soccer ball, a handbag and high-heeled shoes, a wreath, and her special sleep buddy, a yellow sheep.

And now, I unveil for the first time, Little Miss Sunshine’s — it’s not quite assembled yet, but if I get it done today, it’ll be ready just in time for our first Advent Activity tomorrow. The Little Miss’ has on it a snowflake, a bunny, a beach ball, a teapot, cup, and cupcake, and her special sleep buddy, a brown bear.

Let the holidays begin!