This Christmas stocking was made by my great Aunt Henrietta, a sister of my grandmother. It is the second of two she made for my branch of the family. Aunt Henrietta was the family artist, making religious figurines: my mother treasures the Mary/Jesus/Joseph set she has, and I have an Infant of Prague in a pink robe that sits in the center of our mantel, a place of honor.

This stocking was probably made around 1962 or 1963.

I have no memories of this woman; my father took up architecture after he retired, and also made some very beautiful woodworked objects throughout his life—I have a very classicly styled walnut table he made in high school—but when I was growing up she was the only other person in my family I knew about as a visual artist.

So these pieces have always been very special to me, and the desire to connect has no doubt played a large part in my decision to make stockings, a tradition that now extends across four generations of women in my family. Specifically, since this stocking is blue, I made the spouse's (candy cane) stocking in pink, which is just my slightly off-kilter sense of humor in play. It is my hope one of my children or sib's children will continue the tradition of making stockings!

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.