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I’ve a confession to make: I LOVE STOLES. I have lots of them–nearly fifty. (I know. I’ve got a problem.) My dear husband, Greg, doesn’t help.  For every gift-giving holiday, he’s got a new, custom stole up his sleeves. In fact, there are over 10 waiting in the wings since I last posted a New Stole Sunday in March of 2014!

But this one took the cake.

In May of 2015, Greg and I went on a 2 week adventure of a honeymoon in Rome.  And of course, while we were there, we looked up a clergy vestment shop (like you do) to see what we could find. Turns out their vestments were super expensive (or we’re REALLY cheap). In any case, all we decided to take home was some fabric from the discount rack. (Y’all know how I am about fabric!) I’d all but forgotten it, when we opened Christmas presents after Westfield’s 9pm Christmas Eve service. Side note: Everyone knows Christmas gifts aren’t a competition. And EVERYONE hopes they give the best gift. This year was no different for us.

The lights on the tree were on and our late suppers from Grill 37 reheated. Greg handed me two packages. “Open this one first,” he said. I ripped through the wrapping to find a canvas print of this:

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“This is one of my favorites…” he began, a little bashfully. Side note: Greg has so many wonderful traits–he’s tall and talented and loving and supportive. But Greg is not a complimenter. I knew it when I met him; I knew it when we got married. And that’s fine (most days! 😉) So, when he printed off this picture saying how much he liked it, I was sold. (It’s the little things, right?)

Then he handed me the second bag. And in it, I found this thing of beauty custom made by our dear friend, Olivia over at Stitchin’ Time Designs (seriously–I think we have her on retainer):

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It’s a striking recreation of my initial altarscape that starts on the top right of the wearer. The water flows out of a jar across the chest and into a lower jug which has wine flowing out it. In fact, here’s a side by side comparison:

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And that beautiful green fabric? It’s the Roman fabric that remained after Greg had a scapular made for him. (We even share vestments…sort of.)

The stole finally got to make its debut because today’s lectionary reading was from John 2–some know it as the Wedding at Cana, others as the first of Jesus’ miracles: turning water into wine.


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I’ve got lots of lovely stoles. But this is the only one based on one of my creations.

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And that is how Greg won Christmas.

 

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