The actual story of the Christmas stocking started in the year of 1959 on Christmas day. The annual Grant Christmas gathering was to be held at Frank and Ruth Jensen’s home in Arcadia, California-a perfect place to have Christmas. The whole family brought presents and kept their secrets to themselves until they shared their surprises with their loved ones. However, the most wonderful surprise for the whole family was brought in a great big box. Elizabeth Barton Grant (Grandpa Grant’s mother) had made a present for each of her children, their spouses, and their children. Inside the box that Elizabeth Grant had brought contained a variety of knitted Christmas stockings. A ribbon with a name printed on each one was attached to each stocking. Everyone took a turn and pulled their ribbon out of the box to reveal their homemade gift. The year 1959 was also knitted into the stocking to represent the year that Elizabeth had started the sock.

That year, Elizabeth had made 33 stockings which I think is unbelievable. That would mean Elizabeth made a stocking every other week so I’m pretty sure she started ahead of time with a plan in mind. She had knit one for all of her six children, Ruth, Dave, John, Wally, Alice Jane, and Liz. Also, she made one for each of their spouses including Frank, Katie, Marian, Carol, and Lee (Liz wasn’t married at the time) In addition, she had made one for Ruth and Frank’s seven children, Dave and Katie’s six children (Greg wasn’t born yet), John and Marian’s two children, Wally and Carol’s four children, and Alice Jane and Lee’s three children (two of their children weren’t born yet). Elizabeth continued to make stockings as families grew. She had knitted about 39 stockings up to the year of 1962, a year before she died.

The tradition continued when Carol Grant decided that she wanted to knit Christmas stockings. She had known how to knit and even made a sweater dress but never got around to complete it. She had wanted her children’s spouses and their children to have a traditional sock so she began to give them as presents. She made one for each of her children’s spouses Ron, Barbara, Janelle, Mickey, Randy, Ed, and Carrie’s boyfriends Jim and Larry. Also, she made one for Cathy and Ron’s five children and Ron’s mother Anne (whose did Anne go to after she died?), Bob and Barbara’s four children, Janelle’s three children and Bob and Janelle’s two children, Laura and Mickey’s two children (is that right?). The families continue to grow and she had made one for each of the Roberts children’s spouses Josh, Emily, Matt, Eddy, Ashley, and Adrian. Also, Dave’s wife Becky and her three children received one. Carol wasn’t finished yet. Before you knew it she had knitted one for Luke, Chris, Jessie and remade two that were retired for Zachary and Rachel.

Then Emilee Reynolds decided that she wanted to learn how to knit so she asked Grandma Carol Grant if she wouldn’t mind teaching her so she could take over the Christmas tradition. Emilee began learning how to knit in November of 2004. The process was slow because she had made a lot of mistakes but Grandma was patient and kind as she taught her granddaughter the techniques of making a good stocking. Emilee’s goal was to make five before Christmas of 2005. At first her husband, Adrian didn’t believe in her which was a big surprise. She was in doubt in the beginning because she didn’t see an end to making one stocking. But she was determined to make these stockings before the end of the year. She continued to return to Grandma’s house as often as she could because she knew that she would be moving to Austin, Texas at the end of July. She had to get at least one finished before she left so she could feel comfortable with it. Well, she ended up finishing her first Christmas stocking which was for Emma. She was nervous about making one by herself but she followed the same guidelines but changed the pattern, name and year to match her next family member. She got stuck on the stocking heal but found help at the local Michael’s store. She ended up making four more before Christmas of 2005 for Malissa, Brandon, Jaden, and Rebecca. In 2006, she made one for Cathy, Stefan, Melanie, Paige, Greg, Courtney, and Adrian. In 2007, she made one for Cassie, Kennedee, Steven, Mindy, and Mason. The tradition of the Christmas sock will continue as Emilee finds time to knit these wonderful Christmas stockings for her family and extended family members.