Did you know that this New Years holiday is originally a commemoration of Jesus’ bris? That’s why it’s 8 days after Christmas. There is no secular reasoning to celebrate a New Years on this date; it’s a Christian feast day deeply rooted in Christian theology. But mainstream US culture is so enmeshed in Cristian hegemony that we collectively imagine it’s secularism.
I learned this from the Jew Who Has It All; if you don’t follow her already then go read her content right now! It’s brilliant satire, funny and poignant, and also remarkably well researched and accurate, though with some intentional minor errors for the sake of humor.
I truly don’t mean to be a scrooge, honestly, I love Christmas and New Years! And as part of a multi faith household I’ve been delighted to embrace my wife’s family Christmas traditions and pass those on to our kids! When we first got married, I decided to make us these matching stockings. Or rather, I really mean WE made them, because this project was a total collaboration. I designed them and made the cross stitch name bands, Caitlin patterned out the sock portion, and Caitlin and her mom both contributed to the sewing process.
That first year it was just the two of us, and Caitlin’s stocking is the only one left of the original (mine had my dead name on it, so I made myself a new one a few years later). In the 10ish years since I’ve made made a total of 12, for Caitlin’s family of origin, a few of our chosen family, and then of course all of the more recent additions to the family (our two kiddos, as well as our 2 nephews on that side). The last 2 stockings, for the two 2 year olds, were finally finished just in time for Christmas this year!
To be honest, if I were designing these stockings now instead of 10 years ago, I would make different choices! I’m not sure I’d even go with cross stitch, I kind of wish I’d made knitted stockings instead. Back then, I was not as confident of a knitter, especially with colorwork, and cross stitch was my comfort zone.
Anyway, I craft a lot of Jewish and Pagan ritual items, but these humble stockings are this Jewitch crafter’s contribution to my family’s Cristmas celebration. I’m glad they’re finally complete, and I don’t intend to make any more for a while! Even if they’re not as elaborate as I would prefer, it always feels really special to have custom personalized stockings for the whole family under the greenery on our mantle for the Christmas season!
Notice how i said “Christmas season” not “holiday season”? Remember, Channukah is a minor holiday and the Jewish “holiday season” is in September and October, with Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah. Winter Solstice is one of my favorite pagan holidays, but we pagans literally celebrate the changes in every season, not just this season specifically. This is not my Holiday Season.
And I am particularly proud of the lettering on these stockings, it was my first custom created font. I almost always use one of the myriad already existing cross-stitch letter patters, sometimes with minor edits. But for this project I really wanted to use Uncial typeface, and I could not find a cross stitch pattern for that font! It’s surprisingly challenging to turn a font from a word processing software into a functional cross stitch pattern, and even more challenging to get the kerning right and all the letters looking consistent across multiple projects with widely varied widths! These letters were created very ad hoc, but eventually I plan to document a more consistent version of the pattern and make it snapshot for download, because I think they’re pretty great and other crafters should have access to an Uncial font pattern!
I really do love Christmas, I just don’t like the Christian hegemony that forces its celebration on everyone, under a thin facade of secularism with a token nod toward interfaith faux inclusivity. Can’t we just be honest and acknowledge that it’s a Christian holiday season, keep it out of public schools and government and other explicitly secular spaces, and let everyone who wants to celebrate enjoy it to the fullest in their own homes and places of worship? And then, maybe, if we actually want to be inclusive of other faiths, make the effort to acknowledge other religion’s major holidays that fall during other times of the year?
- Featured project: Christmas Stockings
- Medium: Cross Stitch
- Pattern: Original
- Materials: Aida cloth (18ct), DMC embroidery floss, plaid cotton quilting fabric, muslin lining
- Started: fall 2013 (maybe 2014), Completed: Christmas 2023
#showcase #doneisgood #xstitch #collaboration #politics #theology #Jewitch
The Owl Weaver 
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