<p>I had a great response to my thread about xmas trees , thank you(still haven’t gotten one, probably this weekend , cause I am not sure where I want it ).</p>
<p>I also admit that while I was raised more or less Christian (baptised Presbytertian) and come from middle class, midwest ,and here since the 1700’s ( a long line of ancestors with ADHD, I suspect) , I fully recognize that Christmas is not celebrated by everyone and I lean more toward the candy cane and snowman aspects ( as might be expected since the time between Christmas & New Years is the only time I can count on H having off all year).</p>
<p>We have had a tradition of putting toiletries in xmas stockings ( one of the few traditions that I have adapted from H parents), I like finding special lipglosses and making sure everyone has a new toothbrush and will admit to sticking socks in there as well
.
The stockings themselves I ordered a long time ago from Nordstroms, when youngest was a baby, they are knitted ( machine) and have our names on them. I even still have the flannel and terrycloth stocking I had growing up from Frederick & Nelsons, but it is so narrow you can’t get much in there!</p>
<p>But since both the girls spend more time elsewhere than under our roof and haven’t even gotten back to me about what they want, I need some ideas to be a little creative.</p>
<p>What sort of things do you put in your stockings and where do you hang them if you don’t have a fireplace?</p>
<p>We’re still doing Christmas stockings for our kids, although they are now 26, 22, and 19. Never found a place to hang stockings once they were stuffed - we put them on the floor next to each kid’s bed on Christmas Eve. Some things must go in every year:
a paperback book or crossword/sudoku book (this harks back to the days when the kids would be up at 4 AM on Christmas Day and dh and I didn’t want to get up that early, so we wanted them to have something to occupy themselves with).
a pair of holiday socks at the toe
scratch-off lottery tickets
foil-wrapped chocolate Santa
More grown-up things lately: kitchen gadgets for the two who have apartments; lots of stuff from the travel-size aisle at Target (lint roller, first aid kit, mini hand santizers); gift cards to Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts for the coffee drinkers; teeny liqueur bottles for the over-21s. And since one of my kids is teaching first grade, I’m back to hunting for stickers for her stocking (those things get expensive).</p>
<p>Didn’t you know that stockings are hung from nails above the doorframe between the livingroom where the tree is, and the den where unwrapped presents are stashed?</p>
<p>Stocking for non-attendees must be filled to equivalent fatness of stockings of attendees. After attendees open their presents and root through their stockings, whoever picked up the cutest holiday zip-top plastic bags gets to unload the non-attendees stockings into properly labeled bags. Then the ziplocks are shipped along with presents to the non-attendees. I know this makes the non-attendees wait for their presents but a) they should have been there anyway, b) it spreads the holiday season out a bit longer, and c) this way they get cooler stuff from their stockings than if you’d packed some random “stocking estimate” earlier.</p>
<p>All packages that arrive in January are still Christmas stuff. Anything later than that will have to include Valentine’s, Easter, Fourth of July, etc. gear depending on how late in the season you’ve let it go.</p>
<p>My mom always finds great things to put in stockings. Some of my favorites are small spatulas, whisks and extra measuring spoons, and other small kitchen items. I’ve got some of those balls you knock together and make popping noises. I like to put in a wind up toy. Flip books are great - if you google Elvis or Beatles flipbooks you come up with some I’ve given, but I can’t find the best (somewhat off-color) one which has stick figures. We always have one of those chocolate oranges. We often put things like rubberband airplanes. I’d love to get origami paper. Places like Thinkgeek and computer gear have quite a bit of small stuff we think is funny.</p>
<p>Candy, gift cards, if there is a small gift like jewelry. Maybe little puzzles. Socks. CDs. Whatever packages are the right size to go in them.</p>
<p>We can’t hang stocking on our woodstove, so I bought mantle stocking hangers (sort of like these, but mine are brass, and there is only one reindeer because we hang only two stockings).</p>
<p>EK, you must have been reading my mind this morning because I was making a list for my stocking shopping trip, and wondering if I was the only one who still does stockings for her kids even though the youngest is now a sophomore in college. Things I have so far: Lindt chocolate santa, mini bottle of Purell hand sanitizer, toothbrush, gum, a bag of throat lozenges, small packages of Kleenex, a pair of Christmas socks, Tim Horton’s gift card (Canadian coffee shop), knitted dishcloths, measuring spoons, post-it notes. </p>
<p>I have stocking hangers and put them on the mantel but after I fill the stockings on Christmas Eve, I put them on the floor because I’m always worried that they’ll crash down in the middle of the night and scare the dogs. :)</p>
<p>Candy canes, other candy and small gifts. I fill stockings for both of the kids as well as for my husband (who always gets a Farmers Almanac in his).</p>
<p>I am also popping in Bob Dylan’s Christmas CD (which I LOVE) fyi --the proceeds go to
Feeding America. Check out his “Must be Santa” video…hilarious.</p>
<p>Love this thread! Most of the items I stuff into the kid’s stockings have been mentioned above but one item I put in every year has not been listed…thank you notes! This encourages the kids (20, 18 and 13 years old) to write thank you notes to friends, grandparents, cousins, whoever. Been doing this ever since they could write their name.</p>
<p>Beyond many things mentioned here (candy, socks, Burts bees)–pens and other desk supplies, a magazine each (usually sports themed for S, music for D), novelty toys, and always a bag of gold chocolate coins at the toe.</p>
<p>No fireplace here–we always left them by their beds when they were little–which necessitated much scary sneaking in to not wake them. Now, outside their doors. They get up together first, share stockings, then we all head down to tree.</p>
<p>(S still lives here; D comes over Christmas eve.)</p>
<p>^ I grew up in an apartment in NYC without a fireplace. One of my fondest memories is waking up early Christmas morning (or perhaps during the night) and finding a filled stocking in bed with me. It was just so cozy and delightful – beats a fireplace IMO.</p>
<p>What a timely thread. Just this week I was wondering if 22 yr. old new college grad. and 20 yr. old college soph. guys were too old for stockings. I’m sure DH would say yes. He’s so practical. The Mom in me says no!</p>
<p>My Mom made my kids stockings when they were babies. They are not big, pretty narrow too. She told me she made them that way on purpose so I wouldn’t have to buy so much stuff every year to fill them!</p>
<p>We have a fireplace but have never hung the stocking on it…never got around to buying the hangers. We hang them on the fireplace screen because it has small knobs at the top that are perfect for hanging. We have gas logs so no worries about fires.</p>
<p>After I fill the stockings, I usually lay them on either on of the sofa with each kids gifts.</p>
<p>I had not even thought of lottery tickets…great idea.
I always do gum, one kind of candy, gift cards, sometimes socks, protein bars for S1 the fitness freak, chapstick, facial moisturiser for men. A belt for S2 one yr.</p>
<p>We will not be home for Christmas year (have to go to the in-laws house) so I’m not sure what we’ll do. It may be a year without stockings:(</p>
<p>I was thinking no stocking’s this year. 2 are married now and living away form home. One home unemployed and in the doghouse for reasons need not go into here and one in college. Trying to remember when my Mom stopped and I am thinking when youngest was in college. We don’t do it as adults for each other in the family.</p>
, I fully recognize that Christmas is not celebrated by everyone and I lean more toward the candy cane and snowman aspects ( as might be expected since the time between Christmas & New Years is the only time I can count on H having off all year).</p>
and one in college. Trying to remember when my Mom stopped and I am thinking when youngest was in college. We don’t do it as adults for each other in the family.</p>