Countdown to Christmas Ornament: Cross Country Christmas

Believe it or not, friends, we’ve reached the end of the Hallmark Channel Countdown to Christmas! If you missed some of the premieres, never fear, they’ll be streaming all day on Christmas Day, so you can catch up or re-watch your favorites.

The final movie of the countdown, Cross Country Christmas, starring Rachael Leigh Cook and Greyston Holt, definitely wins a spot in my favorites for the year. It’s a delightful, funny adventure that takes the main characters Lina and Max from New York to Colorado through a series of unfortunate mishaps. Their plane is grounded due to winter weather, and they’re left trying just about every possible mode of transportation to make it home in time for Christmas…including a cargo train, a tractor, and a dog grooming van. Along the way, they meet people who help them (and who they’re also able to help in return), and discover they make a great team. Personally, I enjoyed the fact that this one is full of unexpected events and doesn’t totally follow the standard Hallmark movie formula.  Find out more and enjoy this movie for yourself here!

There were so many possibilities for an ornament to represent this movie…the van, Lina’s hat, the bobble head Santa, just to name a few. In the end, I opted to recreate the stocking filled with mementos that Max hangs on a tree for Lina at the end of the movie. Even aside from its connection to the movie, it’s a cute little ornament that you can use for gifting cash, gift cards, or little IOU coupons. Here’s how I made it and you can too:

MINI STOCKING ORNAMENT

You’ll need:

Red fleece or felt (I used two of the 4 1/2″ squares I had left from my fleece tie pillow project!)

White fleece or felt

Red thread and sewing needle

Scissors

Ribbon

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Paper or cardstock and pen

Step 1: Cut your fleece into two stocking shapes.

I freehanded mine, but if you like, you can sketch or print a stocking shape as a pattern. If your fleece has a right side, make sure that you stack it with the right sides facing out while you cut.

Step 2: Hand or machine stitch the two shapes together around the outer edges, leaving the top open.

If you don’t sew, you can also attach them by gluing right along the inside edges instead.

Step 3: Cut two white felt rectangles and glue them on as accents at the top.

Glue one on the front and one on the back of the stocking.

Step 4: Attach a ribbon hanger.

I glued mine right inside the top opening.

Step 5: Fill your mini stocking ornament!

To represent the movie, I cut two slips of paper and wrote “Express Train” on them to represent the tickets Max puts in Lena’s stocking. Of course, you can slide in anything you like!

And there it is, the final Countdown to Christmas ornament! If you make your own mini stocking ornament, I would love to see how it turns out. Be sure to share your photos of this or any of your other holiday projects in the Amy Latta & Friends Facebook group so we can all be inspired.

Don’t miss all the other ornaments from the Countdown to Christmas series! There’s one for each of the 24 new movie premieres, and you can find them all by clicking on the titles below:

JINGLE BELL BRIDE   CHATEAU CHRISTMAS

ONE ROYAL HOLIDAY   ON THE 12TH DATE OF CHRISTMAS

NEVER KISS A MAN IN A CHRISTMAS SWEATER

CHRISTMAS WITH THE DARLINGS   CHRISTMAS IN VIENNA

A TIMELESS CHRISTMAS  A NASHVILLE CHRISTMAS CAROL

THE CHRISTMAS HOUSE   HEART OF THE HOLIDAYS

A CHRISTMAS TREE GROWS IN COLORADO

GOOD MORNING, CHRISTMAS  CHRISTMAS BY STARLIGHT

FIVE STAR CHRISTMAS  CHRISTMAS WALTZ  IF I ONLY HAD CHRISTMAS

CHRISTMAS IN EVERGREEN: BELLS ARE RINGING

CHRISTMAS SHE WROTE   LOVE, LIGHTS, HANUKKAH   

CHRISTMAS COMES TWICE  A CHRISTMAS CAROUSEL

I hope you’ve enjoyed this series as much as I have! Happy crafting, happy movie-watching, and Merry Christmas!