In the beginning, there was me. (I've often joked that the word should be spelled "Jenna-Sis", since I was the first, and I am definitely a sister, but I digress.) It didn't stay that way for long, as each of my eight siblings was born one after the other almost like clockwork, but here I am on my very first Christmas. These are the only two pictures I have of that day. For the only time in my life, all the focus was on me, as I don't think my mom knew she was even pregnant with Ethan yet. Well, maybe she did, but just barely. He was born in September the next year.It's such an odd thing to look at baby pictures of myself. I don't think I was an especially beautiful baby, but I'm sure my parents disagreed. I was hopelessly bald for several years, for one thing. But I do see traces of my own babies in my little face and it makes me feel more connected to my children.
I smiled when I saw this stocking that my mom knitted for me. She knitted one for each of us, and all eleven of them hung from our mantle every Christmas. The color combinations got way better as we moved into the 80's, but there I am with pink and green, and it brings back such a flood of memories. I'm sure my mom still has it, though it's probably disintegrating by now, as yarn quality was the other thing to improve over the years. She let us take our ornament collections with us when we moved out, but she held on to the stockings, and I don't blame her. She has since knitted a whole new collection for my family and several other siblings'.
I wanted to reminisce this December, and share memories from Christmases past. My mom made Christmas my very favorite holiday of the year, and my sisters share the obsession. My mom is all things quaint, cozy, and traditional when it comes to Christmas, from the stories she told, to the treats she baked, to the carols she played and we sang. I have tried to pass those things on, and more, to my own children, so this month you get a glimpse! I hope it warms your heart and fills you with Christmas joy!
9 comments:
A wonderful post. I need to get some things organized so I can get in the crawl space and access my old photos. I have been blogging since June, but I have been thinking of putting some baby photos of me on at times also. Nice memories, and do you like the colours of your stocking, because it does remind me of your header, which I really like...did I say that already.
What a lovely way to spend the month of December!
Oh my gosh Jenna! It's Conor!!! He looks so much like you it's crazy!!!
On a side note... ummm, Mom, we don't have stockings from you. I bought 2 of those stupid red and white ones which I despise a lot. Hint hint for next year maybe?
Mom still has all of the stockings, yes. And she still hangs them up every year as well. They are all starting to get holes here and there..but she does a good job of patching them up.
And I too don't have any mom made stockings for my small family. But mom also doesn't have the time for that yet. I'm hoping they'll make their way here by next Christmas!
Ah, how well I remember those pictures! And even the books in the background -- I got slapped across the knees with them often enough. ("Here -- read this to me!")
I think some of the kids took their stockings but I still have several -- and they *are* getting nappy and full of more holes than I can reasonably mend. I may send them out so you can just keep them under glass or something. :o)
Yeah, I meant to do a bunch of new stockings this year and actually started one for Calix -- then my free time changed. But I think it will be changing back soon and I'll be working in the upstairs surrounded by all my yarn and no prohibitions against using it.
Heh heh heh.
What a wonderful post. I was thinking that I need to get out some of my older photographs and remember some of my younger Christmases!
Great post! I was bald for a looong time as a child too! Cute pics!
I can't believe it. Until today, I firmly believed that Conor was the image of his father. Wrong. He's you! It's stunning. You were a cute baby!
Oh that was fun!! I loved seeing your old photos! It makes me want to go through mine and see what I can find from Christmases past!
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