Hi everyone By now I think everyone has received their stockings, so I wanted to post a few comments here. I really enjoyed this swap. April, you did a phenominal job of hosting. Thanks for all of your hard work, especially during this busy Christmas season. I received a lovely handmade stocking stuffed with a wonderful assortment of goodies that included so many neat gardening accessories, (I especially loved the plant markers) hand sanitizers,candy, a huge variety of seeds, warm socks, wonderful cards with lovely sentiments from the other participants, and various other very useful items that I will enjoy over the coming months. You were all so thoughtful and generous. Thank you to everyone and Merry Christmas to all of you!!!

This thread has been a great comfort to me since I'm another poster who has been through some less than happy Christmases. The upside is the creating new traditions (still working on that - I consider it a work in progress) as well as simplifying my decor style. However, I'm lucky in the sense that I'm not terribly influenced by the latest trends being put forward by the design industry. It has to be priced right as well as fit my style, so even with my everyday home decor it's a pretty slow slog. 90% of the time I walk out of the stores empty handed. Every generation seems to have the same complaint about the over-commercialization of Christmas. Yet I remember my paternal grandmother owning several items (linens, figurings) for holiday entertaining. I have vivid recollections of my mom (and I want to say this was 1965 or 1966) covering one of the walls in our DR with fuschia foil wrapping paper and arranging large branches spray painted white in front. I have a book published in 1962 that discusses outdoor lighting. In it are several chapters regarding Christmas lighting, including a discussion about garish, over the top displays. So in a sense many of these concerns have always been with us. IMO, what has changed over the years is more a response to the changing marketplace. How many of us here have gone to faux trees for purely practical reasons? I would never have switched if it wasn't for the fact that the quality sharply declined (when do they cut these things, september?) and the prices for a genuine fresh cut tree rose to ridiculous rates (over $100? Um, sorry, no). Then we have the whole spectrum of products that are about convenience - net lights, pre-lit trees and garland, and those airblown lawn decorations. Even if you're not a fan of the airblowns in general, you have to admit they have some distinct advantages for the average homeowner: run an extension cord, stake the thing in place, plug it in and you have insta-festive. And after Christmas they require minimal storage space. Sorry for the long essay, but I think some of the items we've seen come on the market in the past 10 years or so are a positive in terms of safety and saving time and money. Yes, there's a lot of stuff out there that leaves me scratching my head, but that always seems to be the stuff that they can't give away at the post-Christmas sales. ;-)

pfmastin: That is what we used to do with our old matle DH put up which was a Home Depot special. The new one is a painted wood custom mantle so would rather not make any holes for now. jen9, sippimom, and lindybarts: Those 3M Command hooks sounds like just the thing. mpwdmom: Those mantle clips also look good. Sounds like a trip to Lowes is in order. Thanks everyone for all the great suggestions!

Hi SAS, We have wooden hangers that can be used on any surface and hold a lot of weight. They do not depend on the weight to hold the stockings, but the design. We found ours at a local fireplace store. I did see them in a LL Bean catalog a couple of years ago, not sure if they still sell them. Attached is a photo of them on the fireplace with stockings. The next message will show the hanger close up (I don't know how to post more than 1 photo per message). These really work! MJ