'Tis the season...

Christmas stockings are a first for me this year. I haven't had a stocking before, nor have I ever had a traditional American Christmas morning, despite having lived in the US for ten years. In the past DH and I opted for a German Christmas (the exchange of gifts--Bescherung--happened on Christmas Eve), although a very stripped down version: the few times that we were not visiting family over Christmas and spent it by ourselves we didn't even have a tree, since our old apartment was too small to fit one, and neither one of us owned any tree decoration.

This year will be different. The lure of a baby is irresistible, which is why we are hosting Christmas at our house for my parents and parents-in-law. It will be a German-American Christmas, with bits and pieces borrowed from both traditions. There will be goose and ham; the Vienna Sängerknaben and Bing Crosby; egg nog with and without alcohol; a real tree with fake lights; new pajamas and my great-grandma's Christmas pyramid. Most importantly, we'll do Bescherung on the 24th but also have stockings and stocking stuffers on the 25th.

Which brings me to today's picture.

I'm knitting Conrad a stocking. I asked my in-laws to mail their and DH's stockings, which they have done, and I'll have (cheap-ish) "souvenir" stockings for my parents that they can take home to Germany. But the Bean, the little Bean, he doesn't have a stocking yet! So I decided to knit him one. I started a few days ago and am almost halfway finished (I knitted a lot this afternoon, after I took the picture). I haven't done stranded knitting in a billion gazillion years--and it shows. The stitch definition leaves a lot to be desired, but I'm getting better, and perhaps--big question mark there!--I'll tackle the Insanity Closet project next year.

Back to the needles....