My beautiful daughter and I were visiting on the phone earlier this week about our impending family Christmas rendezvous in Nashville🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄.
My level of excitement is over the moon!!! In less than a week Studly and I will have our two kids, our in-loves, and our five grand babies all in one house to celebrate the holidays.
Because we are all traveling by car from our respective homes, luggage space is at a premium, so we’ve all agreed to buy gifts only for the kids. Of course I have bought stocking stuffers for the grown ups–and have told everyone to BYOS (bring your own stocking).
No one demands that stocking stuffers be bought, but you see, my Mom was the Queen of Stockings. Anyone who spent the night under her roof on Christmas Eve awoke to find a beautiful stocking filled to overflowing with carefully shopped for goodies–things that one would never think to buy for oneself, but that immediately became something one had always wanted.
My grandmother (Nannie Grace) was so enamored of the whole stocking thing that she engineered being at Mom and Dad’s house for Christmas Eve many Christmases in a row.
I’ve tried to continue Mom’s tradition; although, she left some awfully big stockings to fill. My son-in-love thinks I do a pretty good job of it, though, since he’s pretty sure whatever I buy for my daughter’s stocking will trump anything he buys for her. Hey, it’s not a competition….
What I really wish is that I could give a stocking to my Mom. I’m not certain that anyone ever created one for her. And that makes me incredibly sad. So, I’m going to get a little sentimental and “fill” a stocking for my Mom:
Pictures of her grandchildren
She’d be so very proud of the
Amazing people they’ve become
And the lives they’ve made.
Photos and audio of her great grands
She never had the chance to know
These precious reminders that
Life and love carry on.
Love letters from her children
We’d each have much to say
Things we left unspoken;
We always thought we had more time.
Other things I’d place inside:
Licorice jelly beans
Crossword puzzles
A cellphone (she’d be amazed!)
My never ending gratitude,
For teaching me and mine
The importance of filling
Stockings for those we love.
Miss you and love you Mom.
Below is my very first stocking along with the Santa Claus Mom bought when I was five.
And if a stocking-less traveler spends the night in our home on Christmas Eve, we’ve got him/her covered:
Peace, people!
Praying for Eyebrowz 
That was so moving. Loved all of it. I miss my mom too – we live in different continents. We don’t celebrate Christmas but I still need to learn how to ‘fill a stocking’ with love from her. 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you Sam! I have a feeling that you fill your mother’s stocking on a daily basis.
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Here’s another thing we have in common! I do the same, and have an equally impressive collection of stockings! You did a beautiful job on your mom’s!
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Thank you Janie! I love that!
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Reblogged this on Praying for Eyebrowz and commented:
Today would’ve been my mom’s birthday. I previously published this piece a few years ago. I still miss the Queen of Stockings.
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Put simply…beautiful. Happy Birthday to your mum. Time is of no consequence.
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Thank you!
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This is a lovely gift to your mom.
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Thank you!
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A wonderful and beautiful post. Brought tears to my eyes as I remembered my own mum, gone these many years. I love Christmas so much because of her. Your ideas are just perfect for her very own stocking. X
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Thank you! I kind of cried a little myself.
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A wonderful tribute, Leslie
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Thank you, Derrick.
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Our stockings were the first things my brothers and I dug into Christmas morning. In addition to all the wonderful – and sometimes hilarious – little gifts we opened, there was always a beautiful, perfectly ripe orange waiting for us in each stocking’s toe.
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We either got an orange or an apple. All the fruit went into the fruit salad for Christmas dinner!
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Absolutely lovely post – it brought tears to my eyes! I so wish I could give my mom and dad a stocking this Christmas!! Miss them so much!
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Thank you. I feel the same.
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Love this, Leslie. Thanks for reposting it. I was very touched.
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Thank you. It made me cry. Again.
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