Our young daughters were holding "vigil" over a pile of misfit socks that had lost their perfect match during the laundry cycle. They believed in their hearts that these socks were sad, lost, lonely -left dripping in tears-after being cast aside and labeled "misfits."  They wanted so desperately for those socks to feel loved again, needed again. I didn't give it much thought until the girls begged me to help them help these socks.  What's a poor mother to do?  So...I made a promise that we would find a way to make those socks feel loved again. But at the time, I had no idea how.

 

The Christmas season rolled around and our misfit sock pile had grown to what the girls called a "mountain."  One afternoon I told them to carry up all of the misfits and dump them on the dining room table.  I announced that we needed to dress those socks in their Sunday best and stuff them with Christmas goodies because the misfit socks were the perfect gift of simple JOY to celebrate the season.

 

The girls loved decorating the socks and stuffing them with jingle bells, candy, notes, reindeer carrots, little pinecones and more.  Then we tied the misfit socks with BIG red ribbons and a misfit sock poem.  

 

Early on Christmas Eve morning, we decorated our wheelbarrow to resemble a sleigh, put on some spiffy elf hats and quietly tied the misfit socks to every neighbor's doorknob in our neighboorhood.  The misfit socks were loved again and a family tradition was born for years to come. 

 

~ The Kiefer Family

McKenna, Madison, Emma, Rose

Karen & Sam