Christmas? Already??

This past Saturday we had a family/friends gathering with a purpose.  Our son-in-law (Travis) is currently deployed and his unit will not be home for the holidays.  Because we need to allow (LOTS of) time for shipping, we got together a group to work on making Christmas stockings for stuffing in the not-too-distant future.

The project was a simple one (I kept telling everyone that I started doing this project 20 years ago with first graders so I was pretty sure they could handle it!).  Stockings were traced and cut from felt:


A bit of typecasting here - John is tracing the pattern
with chalk (appropriate for a brand new teacher!)



Michael cuts out stockings (and is in charge of keeping the troops
"hydrated" - which must explain why he's working at the bar!

Marah cuts out the green stockings

Even Jax was put to work getting
the proper pieces together for
me to sew.

Yours truly assembling
the stockings.

 







To assemble, the stockings were then sewn together. 

Jeff gives a final "pink"
to the stockings.

Last step before heading to the decorators:  the edges were trimmed with pinking shears.  Then the stockings were decorated with puffy paints, glitter pens and felt scraps.  We had quite a group - 15 adults, one 4-year-old, 2 toddlers, one infant.  At one time or another I saw every single adult either with scissors in hand or decorating stockings (who knew some of these guys were so crafty!)  Though they tried to "mass produce" some elements for the stockings, they actually turned out quite unique and wonderful. 

 

Shh!  Don't tell Travis!

 

 

 

Aunt Marne helped Jax decorate a Christmas stocking for his dad.

 



Elizabeth helped keep Milo entertained.

Mark goes "old school" - keeping
the baby asleep while watching
the game!

People took turns minding the little ones as well (I saw several of the "grandpas" holding Milo at some point during the afternoon/evening). 

 

Gerry & Pete (in the background) start dinner prep.

Pete & Jeff "stirrin' &; saucin'"

While some were still working on stockings, others turned to the dinner portion of our event: a potluck stir fry.  Everyone brought things to contribute and we filled the new 10 ft. island with all sorts of veggies (bok choy, edamame, shredded cabbages, water chestnuts, mushrooms and more) and goodies (like chicken, shrimp, crabmeat and yakisoba noodles).  We handed out large bowls and people could toss in their selections and head to the cooktop to make their sauce selection and where Pete, Jeff and yours truly took turns doing the actual stir frying.  Even the kids loved it!

 

An having dinner with Elizabeth and Jax.

Shay digging in!

 

 

Jenny, Gerry & I owe a HUGE thank you to:

Carol, Mark, Jeff, An, Marne, Pete, Marah, Adra,

Sam, Cindy, John, and Michael! 

I know that Travis and his unit are going to have a

much merrier Christmas because of your efforts!!!!

The finished results:

 





 

~later, counting...days 'til Christmas, days 'til Travis comes home, but most of all my many, MANY blessings, tw