It was our first Christmas as a couple and he was deployed!
I had gotten into the habit of sending a care package just
about every month and each time I had a theme or crafted item in the box.
Little did my now husband know what a crafter he was getting himself into but
that is a story for a different day. At
any rate I thought to myself I have to make this Christmas memorable since we
aren’t even in the same continent plus our anniversary is December 28. All the
ideas I had come up with sounded trite or childish. I needed to come up with something to
accommodate our different religions, tie in the holidays AND our anniversary
AND make it fit into a Priority Mail APO box. I swear I drove myself insane
until the idea hit me. I was going to send him a ring (if I’m off the market as
noted by my engagement ring then he was going to be off the market too!) but
what it would be wrapped in…. ha ha there lay a spark of genius.
His ring, still in its box, was on my dresser starring at
me, taunting me. It seemed as it wanted to ask “what are you going to wrap me
in?”
2 weeks of design, research, fine needle crafting, trial and
error let along the time to find the appropriate materials I had my masterpiece
ready. I stuck the ring deep inside the stocking, folded it neatly to where you
could see his name hand-embroidered and filled the rest of the box with his
favorite snacks and snacks he could share. The idea was he could hang the
stocking from the makeshift fireplace they had downrange and stuff it with
snacks for him and his buddies after taking the ring out of course. So I drove
my happy little butt to the post office and shipped my soldier his box. A week
later, yes it arrived to Afghanistan that fast, he managed to sneak in a call to
tell me he had gotten the box. He thanked me for the snacks and how much he loved
the stocking! He knew it was handmade of course and was amazed at the hand
embroidery. He told me he had shown it around and the compliments it had
gotten, as flattered as I was about his pride in the stocking, he hadn’t
mentioned the ring! I finally asked if
he had looked inside, of course he hadn’t, the box and ring were too small to
notice or make a dent in the huge almost 20” stocking. As we were on the phone,
before our 10 minutes ran out, I asked him to look inside the stocking; finally
he saw the ring we picked out just 2 months before during his R&R. I will
spare you of the mushiness that ensued.
I now make a version of his Christmas stocking as they make
great gifts or care package ideas. You can find them here or here on Etsy. I am also listed on eBay
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