Friday OT # 1 - Stuffing Your Stockings

[Angie]

If you celebrated Christmas as a child, or do now with your own children, what are traditional stocking stuffers in your house? Or, if you don’t celebrate Christmas but other holidays with gifts, what are small traditional trinkets associated?

When I was little, we always got an apple and an orange (I can’t associate a URL with text on mobile, here is a link to the tradition of oranges in stockings: https://www.eatingwell.com/article/7873163/orange-in-christmas-stocking/ ). We usually got a bunch of chocolate (best was Butterfinger Jingles, which I can no longer find). And there was usually underwear or socks of some kind. Then a gift from Santa.

Our kids get a chocolate orange from Terrys, some Reese’s trees, and quite often underwear or socks. Our youngest specifically asked Santa for some this year while visiting, which made me laugh.

What are yours?

 

[NWICY]

We got the plastic candy cane tubes filled with the fake M&Ms. Not as good as real M&Ms by a long ways.

 

[Angie]

We got the plastic candy cane tubes filled with the fake M&Ms. Not as good as real M&Ms by a long ways.

We usually get the canes for each person! My husband doesn’t like them and he was with me when I shopped for stockings, so we didn’t get them.

 

[Angie]

Oh, Lifesavers books! We got the books filled with packs of Lifesavers when I was a kid.

 

[carvers4math]

Oranges, walnuts, and socks. Sometimes crayons or a yo-yo. One of my brothers always got a bottle of Coca Cola.

 

[MLawrence]

There was always a bingo scratcher in my stocking growing up. It doesn’t feel like Christmas without it.

 

[CRcyclone6]

As a kid, it was all candy. Hersheys, Reeses, etc. Plastic candy canes filled with garbage MMs. For our kids, it's more small gifts and a few candy items.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

We never had stockings. I am the youngest of 8. It would have looked like laundry day if we would have hung up stockings somewhere. We usually had a Lifesavers book taped to the top of a present, though.

For my daughter, we'll usually put some candy, maybe some jewelry and a Starbucks card in there.

 

[Clonefan32]

We would always get new socks. Was an afterthought as a kid, but as I got older I came to always appreciate them.

 

[MeanDean]

The traditional orange. Sometimes a tangerine too.

The Lifesaver book was an easy $1.00 gift for cousin gift exchanges.

My father was incredibly miserly when we were small (definitely got much more generous as we became adults) but there would always be a huge box of chocolates for the family on Christmas. I still have to buy at least a small box or it doesn't feel like Christmas.

 

[MeanDean]

My mother and her getting us each those damn chocolate covered cherries...

I miss her lots, but that was a habit of hers we could never break. I guess they meant a lot to her.

 

[Rabbuk]

There was always a bingo scratcher in my stocking growing up. It doesn’t feel like Christmas without it.

Mines not always a bingo one, but scratchers for me too.

 

[Gonzo]

Lots of those little round chewy peppermint candies, and there'd always be one Michael Jordan related thing in there like a card or a little booklet or something, since I was a huge MJ fan. I'm now 50 and to this day my mom still finds something MJ related to put into my stocking when we go back for Christmas.

 

[jsb]

For frame of reference, this refers to Christmas in the mid to late 80's. We always got mini stuffed animals that were given out in Happy Meals in our stockings. So one year they were mini pound puppies, one year I think was Disney, and there were a few other things. I remember that we were never allowed to get Happy Meals so my parents must have bought the meals when they were out by themselves.

Other than that, we got candy, sometimes fruit, a few little things.

 

[Pat]

If you celebrated Christmas as a child, or do now with your own children, what are traditional stocking stuffers in your house? Or, if you don’t celebrate Christmas but other holidays with gifts, what are small traditional trinkets associated?

When I was little, we always got an apple and an orange (I can’t associate a URL with text on mobile, here is a link to the tradition of oranges in stockings: https://www.eatingwell.com/article/7873163/orange-in-christmas-stocking/ ). We usually got a bunch of chocolate (best was Butterfinger Jingles, which I can no longer find). And there was usually underwear or socks of some kind. Then a gift from Santa.

Our kids get a chocolate orange from Terrys, some Reese’s trees, and quite often underwear or socks. Our youngest specifically asked Santa for some this year while visiting, which made me laugh.

What are yours?

Every year Grandma gave us a box of animal crackers that smelled like Kools. She specified that they were for the stockings, and from Santa, but it became a bit of a running joke

See attached for mobile text links.

 

[Angie]

Every year Grandma gave us a box of animal crackers that smelled like Kools. She specified that they were for the stockings, and from Santa, but it became a bit of a running joke

See attached for mobile text links.

Mine is greyed out! I also don’t have the image to insert a photo? Been missing a long time. Not sure if I need to go look through my settings.

 

[Angie]

One year Santa brought me a big-ass Hersheys kiss, back in the early 90s before you could find them so prevalently. I ate on that thing for a month!

 

[cytor]

My mother and her getting us each those damn chocolate covered cherries...

I miss her lots, but that was a habit of hers we could never break. I guess they meant a lot to her.

HATE those chocolate covered cherries. Whoever invented those should be ashamed.

 

[NWICY]

My mother and her getting us each those damn chocolate covered cherries...

I miss her lots, but that was a habit of hers we could never break. I guess they meant a lot to her.

LOL just picked up my dad 2 boxes of those yesterday.

 

[Angie]

HATE those chocolate covered cherries. Whoever invented those should be ashamed.

Cordial cherries and Cadbury crème eggs are both delightful!