our christmas stockings

i always kind of thought, in the back of my mind, that once our family was complete we would get matching, cute stockings. with our names on them. and it would be amazing.

well...our family is complete. and i can't do it.

these stocking that we have added, mostly one at a time, have a story to each one. not just a story to the person they are for. but a story to the ACTUAL stocking. and i can't part with them.

i bought the stockings for pat and i our second christmas. we didn't have stockings our first christmas (we were in college and, well, we just didn't.) i remember buying them at michael's, with a 40% off coupon. it was a BIG purchase. i wrote our names in glitter glue (that i had in my craft stash - that was probably from when i was in high school!)

we found out we were pregnant with rebekah new year's eve 2000. i finished my year of teaching. had her the end of august 2001 and decided to stay home. money was TIGHT. the tightest it's ever been. like, counting pennies tight. i remember how much EACH grocery item cost then. and how much we spent a month on groceries (around $200/month). buying a stocking for our first child for her first christmas was NOT in the budget. but i begged. and, again, with another 40% coupon at michaels, bought her stocking. her name is written in silver sharpie. because that's what i had. and that stocking is SO precious.

joshua's stocking was bought...can you guess?? :-) michaels again. but i don't remember if i had a coupon. and i used glue AND glitter (like, from a bottle!) to write his name!

bailey's was from kohl's. on sale (because EVERYthing is on sale there!) and her name is written in glitter glue. i remember finding her stocking and being SO excited! i definitely spent more on her stocking than the previous 4 together! (and her's was probably about $10!)

sawyer's stocking is from target.

and lincoln and levi's are from target.

and that's appropriate for those 3 boys. because as life has gotten crazier, pretty much anything i purchase is from walmart, target or amazon.com :-)

they don't have their names on them. and they maybe won't ever. they definitely won't this year.

see?? do you see why i can't just get rid of them and buy matchy-matchy stockings?? i love the stories.
{although, if i had known i would keep them forever, i maybe would have used less glitter glue! :-)}