Twas the Night Before Christmas...

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there..

Hanging Christmas stockings over the fireplace has been a holiday tradition for hundreds of years. My Christmas as a child, included hanging stockings on the mantel, but not the kind of Christmas stockings my grandchildren have today)))

We didn't have ready made or even hand made Christmas stockings, I can't recall any of our friends having them either. We literally hung the biggest, longest socks we could find. Knee socks worked, but the best choices were to dig around in daddy's sock drawer for a long wool sock that he wore with his work boots. Whatever sock you chose, you would pull and stretch to make it as large as you could so it would hold more goodies. It was typically hung off a nail driven into the mantel.

Today's stockings have come a long way. They can be beautifully elegant, simple red felt with white plush fur or whimsical curly toes with all the bells and whistles. Name embroidered on the cuffs so there is no mistaking who the stocking belongs too. Stockings may match the decorating theme of the tree.

So much for hammering a nail into the mantel and hanging a sock on it......try putting a nail in your mantel today.....no, I don't think so either. I do have some small screws in mine that are strategically placed to hold garland and corner drops, but stockings are usually hung from a stocking holder. So now the stocking holder itself has become a real part of the Christmas decorations.

Stocking holders come in all sorts, shapes and sizes. We have several available from the different RAZ themes this year.

A trio of whimsical stacked packages from the Gumdrops and Jellybeans Collection.

Tall metal Christmas packages with open tops and peppermint candies spilling out. These stocking holders are also from the Gumdrops and Jellybeans collection. They blend well with items from the No Peeking collection also.

These stately gold nutcrackers are from the Winter Palace collection and will stand guard over your stocking treasures.

Generally, I would have described these stocking holders as whimsical from the "Santa Approved" Collection. But after seeing some of the new styles for this year, I have to say these are a more classic style. Lime green and red with gold. The curly glittered metal bows on top add extra height to the stocking holders. They also come in a taller size, but the chunky box style has been the most popular so it was restocked for this year.

The chunky box style of holders from the "No Peeking" collection have a bit of a paisley look with their swirls, circles and flower design. Lime green, red, pink and white have been the predominant colors in the "No Peeking" collection.

The taller present version - also very whimsical and cheery. Any of these Christmas stocking holders would look great on your mantle. Don't have a fireplace, no worry. Stocking holders can be placed on the edge of a table, bookcase, bar, window sills. Just look around and use your imagination.

Last year we added a few Christmas stocking from Burton and Burton and they really sold well. This year we'll be adding more from them a little later on, but we're very happy to have some from RAZ for this year. They're not posted on the website yet, I'm still working on it.

Seeing these beautiful Christmas stocking holders.....doesn't make me pine for the old days and a nail in the mantel!