Christmas Perfection

I have been looking for the perfect Christmas stockings for nearly six years and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” I have finally found them!  Every so often I would find stockings that I liked in magazines but they were always part of some glorious vignette, handmade, one-of-a-kind, and not for mass consumption.  One year, I even tried to make my own but got as far as making the pattern…that was five years ago and they continue to sit in a box in the attic.  So my poor crazies, oops, I mean babies, have never had Christmas stockings which has actually never been a big deal because they were either too little to notice or care or we were out of town for the holidays.  But sweet sugarplums, I found these amazing stockings a few weeks ago at Red Chair Antiques in Peterborough, New Hampshire. 

At the behest of my dear friend Keri of Antique Therapy, I finally made the trek to Peterborough and visited two of her favorite shops: Red Chair Antiques and Bowerbird.  When I walked into both of these shops, I had to pick my jaw up from off the floor and ever so frequently dab up the puddle of drool that was collecting at my feet.  Wow, is all I can say.  If you haven’t been to either one of these shops then I suggest that you drive fast, very very fast to the charming town of Peterborough, NH. Bring a sack full of money and a Uhaul because if you adore antiques and shabby French and Swedish stylings, you will be in heaven.  

The only unfortunate things about my purchases was that I was only able to afford three of these gorgeous stockings made of rich French ticking cloth and linen that is to die for.  I scraped together all of my pennies and bought a Christmas stocking for each one of my little crazies, oh pardon me, my babies but alas I could not afford to buy one for my husband or myself…sniff…sniff.  Well good things come to those who wait (and sacrifice just so their children can have lovey Christmas memories with heirloom stockings).  Yesterday, I was at The White Home Collection in Wilton, NH where Thistlebees has a sweet space and what did I find?  Two incredible stockings - and only two like they were just waiting for me - made of the softest cotton, repurposed from either old pillow cases or tea towels.  One stocking is more masculine made of creamy linen and the other is more feminine in dainty white damask.  And if you can believe it, they were only $20 each!  Granted with the money I spent on the kid’s stockings, ours will probably remain empty this year but what fun to finally hang stockings.  Question is do I hang them from the fireplace mantel or the along the staircase?  I’ll post pictures of the winner soon… 

Oh, I almost forgot, The White Home Collection and Thistlebees will be hosting a Christmas Open House this coming weekend Friday, November 27th and Saturday, November 28th from 10am-5pm, and Sunday, November 29th from 11am-5pm.  We are located at 9 Greenville Rd. (at the corner of 101 & 31S) in Wilton, NH.  This sale is not to be missed!  I’ll be back up at White Home this week before we head off to Long Island for Thanksgiving to do my last primping before the extravaganza. I’ll take lots of pictures before the sale so you can get a sneak-peek of what is available.  And the greatest thing about The White Home and Thistlebees is that you can plan to bring a Uhaul to carry your treasures away but leave the sack of cash at home - the deals are phenomenal!