…stockings for Emma and Mary. Usually I hang two wool stripey ones that I bought from Martha Stewart’s catalog, which I miss…but they are packed away in Wisconsin, so it’s the perfect excuse to finally make some of my very own, which I’ve been meaning to do for years.

This morning I went over to the "big house" to help my grandmother make granola. She makes a gigantic batch. The first ingredient is "five pounds of oats". She mixes it in two huge–I’m baking for an army-sized mixing bowls with long wooden spoons. So we each took a bowl and stirred away. It bakes for several hours and gets turned and stirred every fifteen minutes. Now I know why she only makes it for the holidays and special occasions. It was wonderful working along side her this morning.

While I was over there she also offered me some of the stockings she used to use. We went upstairs to her closet and she pulled out her bag of Christmas stockings. And they were the real deal–literally thigh-high stockings-but thicker than what we would think of today. She said there was a name for them but she couldn’t think of it at the time. I guess "the stockings hung by the chimney with care" really meant stockings, not the wool, embellished types we’re all hanging today. I love it.