A Simple Solution for a wayward stocking

… and an inexpensive Christmas mantle… and a few other things around my house. 🙂

Does it ever bother you when your “stockings are hung by the chimney with care…” but they keep turning sideways? Well, it bothers me. I just think that if you have a pretty stocking, it ought to hang with the good side facing out! (I must feel passionately about this subject – my fingers are pounding this out on the keyboard!)

But I’m happy to report that peace has come to my mantle. My stockings are hanging correctly – and it took about 1 minute to fix this multi-year problem. One minute and a small piece of string.

I was looking at how the stockings continued to twist sideways and asked the Lord how I could fix this problem. (Do you know that you can ask Him things like that? He cares so much about you that if you care about it, He does too. Yes, He is very concerned and involved with the weight of the world – but He is big enough to carry that weight – and to help you with your twisting Christmas stocking~or whatever it is that is on your mind! Try Him on that and see if what I say isn’t true! We expect God to do the big things. But it’s when we see Him in the little things that we really understand how much He loves us personally and intimately, and is concerned for our every detail of life.)
Anyway, He brought to my mind one of my necklaces, whose charm always turned sideways. Years ago, He gave me the idea to fix that problem by adding an extra little ring to the top of the charm, and it caused the charm to lay flat against my neck.
So that’s what I did to my stocking.

By adding an extra ring, it changes the direction the stocking hangs. I’m sure there is some scientific reason for this. Doesn’t matter. What matters to me is that it works, and now all of my stockings are hanging facing forward, and I’m not constantly fussing over them. Why didn’t I ask the Lord about that years ago???

Speaking of the mantle, I think this may be my favorite one I’ve done. It was cheap and easy. (I like cheap and easy in things – not people, mind you). I used Magnolia leaves from the tree in our back yard and interspersed red Christmas ornaments through them. I’m not sure how long the leaves will stay pretty, but when they start to turn brown, I’ll just go pick more. I’m so thankful for our Magnolia tree.

Because our house is on the market, I didn’t want to over-do the Christmas decorating. It actually took me longer to decorate minimally this year than every other year when I try to make each room special. I guess I don’t do minimal very well.

We borrowed a skinny tree from a friend and had to be very choosy about which ornaments and decorations to use. I enjoy my Santa collections and other memorable things we usually put out at Christmas, but this year, we only used things that would reflect the true meaning of Christmas. I love it. Every time I look at my tree, I’m reminded of the Joy and Hope and Peace we have because “The Word was made flesh and dwelled among us”. (See John 1:1-14) And, as we are in this season of waiting with the Lord, I’m reminded to praise God and to keep my eyes fixed on Him, who IS my HOPE, my PEACE, and my JOY!

One more thing: I wanted to display our Christmas Cards with family/friend pictures, but couldn’t find a clutter-free solution. I even googled “clutter free way to display Christmas cards while your house is on the market”. Believe it or not – there were lots of answers out there. Attaching them to hanging ribbons seemed to be the most common solution, and was even recommended by a Real Estate blog, so that’s what I did. I used what I had (large jute twine) and attached it to the top of our TV armoire with a few pushpins, then used paper clips to attach the cards to the twine. Because the twine is pretty thick, the cards don’t move.


















I like being able to see the pictures, instead of piling them in a basket under the tree or on a table.

I’m sure that most of you know that Monday is the “Christmas Tour of Homes”. I stumbled upon this last year when BooMama hosted it, and decided to participate. I couldn’t go to sleep on the night before the “Tour” day, so I went to her post to find out how to participate (blogging was still kind of new to me). I just “happened” to be on her post when her link opened up, so I linked my post and ended up being 3rd or 4th out of what turned out to be HUNDREDS! I had around 1500 hits on my blog from that one link last year. Amazing. This year, The Nester is hosting. Click over to find links to what will probably be hundreds and hundreds of ideas shared about Christmas decorating.

Have a wonderful week, my friends. For me, school is almost out, shopping is almost done, and my heart is full of gratitude to the Lord for all He is to us. It will be a wonderful week. Peace, Joy, and Hope to you in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jennifer