We celebrated our first Christmas in this house six years ago in 2013. At that time, I was pregnant with Ella and still hoping that we might have one more child. As a result, I did not ask Ron to install permanent hooks above our fireplace to hang our stockings on since I had no idea if we would be hanging five or six stockings in the future. Instead, I took the time to cut packaging tape into multiple, thin strips that I used to tape the loops of each of the stockings to the underside of the mantle. It was a time consuming process and it wasn't full proof as one or two stockings fell off during the holiday season and needed to be taped back up again.
As the years went by and another Christmas came and went in our house, I continued to tape up all of our stockings. During each holiday season, one ore two of them would fall down and would need to be taped back up again. In addition, one of the children's stockings would usually come crashing down before Christmas morning after Santa had filled them with treats and toys the night before. Over the years, I never gave up and never resorted to ask Ron to put up the hooks above the fireplace. I just continued to tape and retape the stockings each year. With each passing Christmas, I felt stronger and stronger that there was one more child waiting in heaven to join our family. Every year, I continued to take the time to hang up our stockings in this time consuming and less-than-effective way because I refused to give up hope that one more child was coming to join our family. After having our fourth miscarriage in December 2017, I was absolutely devastated and felt like every sign was telling me that we should 'be done' having more children, but I still couldn't let go of my dream. As a result, our five stockings were still hung by tape that year. By last year, I was in my third trimester with Emmett, but I was still very nervous about the final outcome of this pregnancy. Due to this reason, I held off on buying a stocking for Emmett and asking Ron to install the hooks. I just wanted to play it safe and wait until our baby had safely arrived. This fall I was able to finally order another beautiful stocking from Land's End to complete our family set that I have been collecting over the years. When it arrived in the mail, I just took a few seconds to marvel at the fact that I was actually holding our sixth and final stocking in my hand after wishing and waiting for it for so many years. As simple as it seems, it really was a big deal for me to finally ask Ron to install the hooks underneath our mantle a few weeks ago and to hang up SIX stockings. I have admired the entire collection of stockings every time I have walked passed our living room this holiday season. I am so grateful that baby Emmett finally joined our family this past year. I am so grateful that he arrived healthy, happy, and strong. I am so grateful that he completed our family. He was the best Christmas gift that I ever could have asked for this year.
The line-up of our six stockings.
A close-up of baby Emmett's new stocking that Ron picked out complete with skiing and sledding penguins.
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