Spouses and Christmas stockings

[Night Elf]

Hey, in his defense, I could not, for the life of me, find a small size of Twizzlers when I was looking this year!

 

Oh no! Hmm.. I better tell him to skip it if he can't find it. I really don't want another big bag.

[MEmama]

They don't have to be expensive. We put in a few treats--a small Toblerone, some Neideregger marzipan (always), licorice for the boys and I get chocolate (â¤ï¸), plus some practical items that we need anyway--ski wax, small bike tools, headbands, favorite lip balm, socks. Consumables like fancy nuts and dried fruit (Trader Joes are great for these). A favorite magazine takes up a lot of room without much cost.

 

Mostly though our stockings are probably smaller sized than many. Some are so huge now it's ridiculous.

[SparklyUnicorn]

They don't have to be expensive. We put in a few treats--a small Toblerone, some Neideregger marzipan (always), licorice for the boys and I get chocolate (â¤ï¸), plus some practical items that we need anyway--ski wax, small bike tools, headbands, favorite lip balm, socks. Consumables like fancy nuts and dried fruit (Trader Joes are great for these). A favorite magazine takes up a lot of room without much cost.

 

Mostly though our stockings are probably smaller sized than many. Some are so huge now it's ridiculous.

 

doing a quick calculation this is actually pretty costly

LOL

 

I guess my "issue" is I'd rather just get what I get without worrying that some stuff fits into a little stocking.  Which of course I could just do, but I was dumb enough to start this tradition so I think my kids would be sad.

 

I mostly put in food because it fits.  One of mine loves beef jerky.  That's not cheap though.

[MEmama]

doing a quick calculation this is actually pretty costly

LOL

 

I guess my "issue" is I'd rather just get what I get without worrying that some stuff fits into a little stocking. Which of course I could just do, but I was dumb enough to start this tradition so I think my kids would be sad.

 

I mostly put in food because it fits. One of mine loves beef jerky. That's not cheap though.

True. But DS needs ski wax anyway, and bike tools, etc. So they are going to be costs regardless.

And something like a special car magazine will get years of being read, and we always need socks or bike gloves...so yeah, maybe not cheap items but all necessary *for us*. And still fun. :)

[HomeAgain]

Dh and I do stockings for each other.  Our love language is chocolate. :lol: Seriously, it's the one time of year we each buy each other the sweets we like best along with a few trinkets (gloves, bath scrubby, traditional toothbrush).  Nothing big, but lovely to have someone else pick it out.

[Emba]

I do the stockings, so mine is usually empty.  DH sometimes does put a little candy in it, but not as a regular thing.  Both of our mothers still do stockings for us (and the kids) though, so its not like I'm suffering   :001_smile:

 

ETA - I don't put much in DH's.  He doesn't like gifts that will end up clutter, so I just put in some candy/edibles that he likes and maybe something super-romantic like a toothbrush.  Because otherwise who knows how long its been since he had a new one. 

Edited December 21, 2016 by emba56

[Alte Veste Academy]

We all love stockings here! I grew up with huge stockings and my kids have huge stockings. DH and I have regular size stockings, but they are fun to fill. I fill mine and his, always have. I get some good stuff! :D DH slips extras in sometimes, but mostly Christmas is my lane.

 

Exploring what's in the stockings is my kids' favorite thing (gift-wise) on Christmas. Yes, the gifts for the stockings cost a lot, but it's a favorite here, so worth it to us. 

Edited December 21, 2016 by Alte Veste Academy

[MEmama]

I live in a high COL area. What you have listed there is more than $40 worth of stuff for me.

Well ok, but my point was it can be stuff you'd buy anyway. So for years it was a few treats and 99 cent matchbox cars and maybe a small pack of Top Gear cards. It evolves, you know? I love getting my favorite 3$ lip balm, even though it's the same that I would buy for myself. It's thoughtful. And thoughtful doesn't have to be expensive. That's all I was trying to say.

[Guest]

Stockings are a small matter to me and they are predominantly candy-filled. I do sometimes put small gifts for the kids, but that's mostly just in the case that the gift would be somewhat lost under the tree. So, DD might have a bottle of nail polish or some lip balm. My boys might have a little minecraft figurine or lip balm or an iTunes card.

 

I do fill mine and DH's, although some years, I have not hung mine at all figuring I really don't need to consume more treats. It doesn't matter to me that I fill mine or that DH doesn't make an effort to put surprises in there for me. It would be a nice thing, I guess, if that was our tradition, but as I said in the other thread, gifts are not my love language and not DH's either, so it's not something we've ever done. Probably the only reason the two of us even have our own stocking is because my mother made them for us when we were were dating or first married. I am a little sentimental about my handmade stocking, so I hang them up.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I live in a high COL area. What you have listed there is more than $40 worth of stuff for me.

 

Uh yeah it probably would be close to that here too.

 

I feel guilty to get too much candy because ugh it's not really good to eat so much candy. 

 

I guess too that I see it as a time to get something special I wouldn't normally buy.

 

I'm not known for my optimism though so just ignore me.  LOL

[SparklyUnicorn]

I bought Pokemon cards for one.  What a racket (in terms of cost).  My goodness.  I know he'll love them though so that's a plus.

 

 

[Guest]

Dh and I do stockings for each other. Our love language is chocolate. :lol: Seriously, it's the one time of year we each buy each other the sweets we like best along with a few trinkets (gloves, bath scrubby, traditional toothbrush). Nothing big, but lovely to have someone else pick it out.

That is a love language to which I can relate! :D That should be on a tee shirt.

[Granny_Weatherwax]

These are my random thoughts on it all - back in the day, when treats and gifts were rare and people waited months for candy, fruit, new toys, etc,  having full stockings was a treat. Now, with our ability to get 'treats' year round - from any gas station or grocery store - I think finding things to put in a stocking has become more cumbersome and expensive. I (like others) don't want to purchase trinkets just to have a full stocking, knowing that most of it will end up in the recycle bin or the Goodwill box within weeks but it also doesn't seem appropriate to fill it with the same goodies we'll buy at Walgreens before we head to a movie iykwim. So the pressure is on to find a treat that has meaning and that usually means an added expense.

 

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

These are my random thoughts on it all - back in the day, when treats and gifts were rare and people waited months for candy, fruit, new toys, etc,  having full stockings was a treat. Now, with our ability to get 'treats' year round - from any gas station or grocery store - I think finding things to put in a stocking has become more cumbersome and expensive. I (like others) don't want to purchase trinkets just to have a full stocking, knowing that most of it will end up in the recycle bin or the Goodwill box within weeks but it also doesn't seem appropriate to fill it with the same goodies we'll buy at Walgreens before we head to a movie iykwim. So the pressure is on to find a treat that has meaning and that usually means an added expense.

 

Very true.  I rarely got candy as a kid.  Now candy is everywhere all the time.  My in-laws mail us massive boxes of candy.  One of mine walks to the store and buys candy when he has a bit of money.  None of the candy is special and I feel guilty loading them up with more candy.

 

 

 

[Alice]

Dh and I only do stockings for each other, not bigger gifts. Although we typically try and go out for some kind of date over the holidays as a present to ourselves. Usually it's dinner and a movie. 

 

I almost always put socks in his stocking because he really likes socks. This year he will also get a new cheapish watch because he also really likes watches and he wanted another one. I've done CDs for him. I will get him some unsweetened coconut because he loves it but thinks it's too pricey to buy regularly. I've also done markers or art supplies (he's an architect with an artist's soul). 

 

For me he has put warm fuzzy socks (that's kind of a tradition here), chocolate or candy that I like, gloves, the kind of pen I like to write with, a CD that I wanted. 

 

I've also surprised him with bigger presents (tickets to an event I knew he would like) and put them in his stocking. 

 

ETA: We do stockings here but I just consider it part of the total gifts. Smaller items just go in the stockings and bigger ones under the tree. I don't feel like I'm just filling it with stuff they don't really want. They will get a Lego mini-fig and a new card game in their stocking. And socks. :) 

Edited December 21, 2016 by Alice

[Guest]

Dh is big on stockings and is very creative with filling them. I am the one who has to think harder.

I can't really imagine what it would be like to be married to someone who thinks like this! (I mean that in a good way!) Holy heck, he is just NOT the detail-attender in this relationship. If he ever wanted to simply astonish me, he could fill my Christmas stocking with Sephora makeup, OPI nail polish, Lindt chocolates, a Barnes & Nobel gift card, a Williams & Sonoma special cookie cutter and a spa gift certificate. Lol, I cannot imagine that! It would be like Invasion of the Body-Snatchers.

[Jenny in Florida]

Yep, my husband and I each fill stockings for the other.

 

We theme the contents. (That part is my fault.)

 

There are usually lottery tickets, candy or other edible treats and at least one or two small gift items. In my family of origin, stockings were filled mostly with candy and perhaps a couple of small, inexpensive, silly items. However, my husband has upped the ante over the years so that stockings now include things that most normal people would wrap and put under the tree.

 

And there must always be a pair of novelty socks that somehow relates to the theme. (That part is his fault, a continuation of a tradition in his family.)

[Sarah CB]

I love stockings!

 

I get two. Dh does a stocking for me and it's always good. 

 

My mom, my sister, and I do stockings for each other - we each go in together on the other's stocking. 

 

I have my own tradition where I do a stocking for any adult who is spending Christmas morning with us. So, this year I'll do dh's stocking, contribute to my mom and sister's stockings, then we're all doing in together to do my dad's stocking, I will also fill my fil and mil's stockings. Oh, and dd insisted that we do one for ex-step-mil since she will also be there on Christmas morning...

 

All of our parents are divorced - so if we don't do stockings for them then they won't get one. And we have such fun finding things to put in them and then watching when they're opened. I save up little things all year to fill stockings with.

[Kassia]

We've always had stockings up, but I get all of my stuff and DH's.  I wrap mine early and, by the time Christmas comes, I forget what I wrapped so it's still a surprise!  Some years I get lots of little treats for myself, others I just put basics in so I have something wrapped and my stocking isn't empty.  I always get DH the newest Farmer's Almanac (he collects them), some candy, and little stuff.  This year I got him one of those microwaveable heating bags for sore muscles.  

[Sarah CB]

I can't really imagine what it would be like to be married to someone who thinks like this! (I mean that in a good way!) Holy heck, he is just NOT the detail-attender in this relationship. If he ever wanted to simply astonish me, he could fill my Christmas stocking with Sephora makeup, OPI nail polish, Lindt chocolates, a Barnes & Nobel gift card, a Williams & Sonoma special cookie cutter and a spa gift certificate. Lol, I cannot imagine that! It would be like Invasion of the Body-Snatchers.

 

You need your dd to go along with him to Christmas shop. Dd and dh usually go to get my presents together, but this year that didn't happen. I'm not sure what my stocking will look like but I think he's had enough experience over the years with dd helping him that it should be similar to previous years. Should be interesting!

[Rebel Yell]

Everyone in the house gets a stocking, and we even hav mininstockings hanging on the fish tank! Just the right size formfishie food or a new little plastic plant.

 

There are five not-fishies ;) living here, so each of us buys one thing for all the other stockings. Anything goes... no minimum or maximum cost... I went nutso on $5 day and Bath and Bodyworks so everyone is getting a full-size item.

 

I also toss in some extras, like little candies, gum, toothpaste, pocket sized tissues, lip balm, packages of nuts and trail mix... basically a mix of fun and practical items.

[Jenny in Florida]

We don't do stockings for adults.

 

Kinda sorry I started it for the kids  All those little dumb things are expensive.  I hate giving too much candy, but I usually give candy because it fills it up and isn't too expensive!

 

We plan/budget for stockings at the same time we do for the other gifts. Often, because of the whole theming thing, the contents of the stocking are really just the equivalent of a gift that might otherwise go under the tree. It's just a gift made up of a bunch of smaller components. So, the expense isn't in addition to the regular gift budget; it's part of it.

Edited December 21, 2016 by Jenny in Florida

[BarbecueMom]

I bought Pokemon cards for one. What a racket (in terms of cost). My goodness. I know he'll love them though so that's a plus.

DH is getting Pokemon cards in his stocking. The boys are too, but if I had only bought them for the kids, I'd hear, "But it won't be a fair battle now! They have better cards!" Or some sort of nonsense.

[Ausmumof3]

I live in a high COL area. What you have listed there is more than $40 worth of stuff for me.

Easily... 😕

[medawyn]

I love, love, love stockings! My dad's mother needlepointed beautiful ones for her grandchildren, and my mother has continued the tradition for her children in law and grandchildren. I love filling them!!

 

That said, this is the first year we won't be at my mother's house for Christmas. I have a feeling DH won't really have remembered my stocking. I have picked up a few things (duplicates of stocking gifts for others), but I'm thinking it'll be pretty empty this year. Knowing him, he'll do better in a year or two when he realizes it.

 

Growing up, Santa always brought stockings for the adults to open while the kids opened Santa presents. Kids opened stockings while adults were doing boring things like drinking coffee.

[medawyn]

I love stockings!

 

I get two. Dh does a stocking for me and it's always good.

 

My mom, my sister, and I do stockings for each other - we each go in together on the other's stocking.

 

I have my own tradition where I do a stocking for any adult who is spending Christmas morning with us. So, this year I'll do dh's stocking, contribute to my mom and sister's stockings, then we're all doing in together to do my dad's stocking, I will also fill my fil and mil's stockings. Oh, and dd insisted that we do one for ex-step-mil since she will also be there on Christmas morning...

 

All of our parents are divorced - so if we don't do stockings for them then they won't get one. And we have such fun finding things to put in them and then watching when they're opened. I save up little things all year to fill stockings with.

This is me exactly!

 

I love surprising guests with stockings :-)

 

This year we sent one to DH's grandparents who are unexpectedly spending Christmas alone in a new-to-them place. I had so much fun thinking about them while I picked out treats. I â¤ï¸ stockings.

[MercyA]

Idk. I don't really understand all this gift giving. I ask dh for a couple of books and a box of chocolates and we're all good. I don't care about surprises or grand demonstrations of love. I don't really even care much about tradition at this point. 

 

:iagree: I personally would be totally fine dispensing with gift-giving between adults in my family. I don't need or want surprises or anything extravagant. I enjoy being with family and enjoy eating holiday yummies, and that's enough for me.

[Ravin]

I quit hanging stockings for DH and I years ago because 1. I had to fill my own. and 2. Money was extremely tight so we (I) prioritized stocking stuffers for the kids.

[Sarah CB]

Well ok, but my point was it can be stuff you'd buy anyway. So for years it was a few treats and 99 cent matchbox cars and maybe a small pack of Top Gear cards. It evolves, you know? I love getting my favorite 3$ lip balm, even though it's the same that I would buy for myself. It's thoughtful. And thoughtful doesn't have to be expensive. That's all I was trying to say.

 

We do the same thing. I've been gathering toothbrushes, lip balm, socks, underwear, and hand cream for our stockings. I do some fun small gifts as well and usually some kind of treat to eat. 

[Anne in CA]

My parents did not have stockings, but dh and I have stockings that we fill for each other. DH always does awesome. But he spends a bunch more than I do. This year for the first time ever I think our stockings will probably be over full. I think I bought too much stuff.

[TheReader]

Oh, stockings for us are just part of the gifts and we budget accordingly. The boys get a few Lego MinFigs each (the surprise packs), and since last year, a can of Brazilian soda that isn't readily available here, but which we all miss (DH gets me a can, too). Beyond that, this year they are getting balaclava hats, which they need anyway but are not fun enough to be presents. Normally the MinFigs and the can of soda would pretty much be it.

 

For DH, I got a different cheese slicer, because he hates the one I love and mentions it all the time.

 

Not sure what he got for me.

[Pippen]

I quit hanging stockings for DH and I years ago because 1. I had to fill my own. and 2. Money was extremely tight so we (I) prioritized stocking stuffers for the kids.

 

Same story here. I think we did it for 2-3 years. Especially when the kids were young I didn't want them to have tons of candy, so the stockings were quite costly. Now I typically do some candy, and maybe 1 or two inexpensive items. 

[BrittanyM]

My DH and I do stocking for each other. He grew up doing ONLY stockings and they would have to buy each other gifts that fit in the stockings. His parents did each other's like we do (and then the kids did as well when they got older). My family did stockings for the kids but I don't remember my parents doing them until we got older and now everyone in my family has a stocking (except for me since I'm the married one). DH and I agreed to keep gifts for each other exclusively to stockings this year to save some money. I've bought him: a cheese slicer, a backpacker magazine subscription, a t-shirt from Mental Floss, a chocolate orange, beef jerky and a couple jerky sticks from Trader Joe's and the game "No Thanks."

 

Our kids get a few snacks/candy (very few though as I don't like them having a ton), a Schleich animal and this year my son is getting some foam swords and my daughters, playsilks. They will each also receive a small container of cereal since they think cereal is amazing as we don't regularly buy it and a new toothbrush.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HS Mom in NC]

dp

Edited December 22, 2016 by Homeschool Mom in AZ

[HS Mom in NC]

My family didn't do stockings at all when I was a kid, just presents for everyone.  They still don't.
My in-laws do stockings for kids.

I do stockings for everyone here, including significant others. I ask everyone what their favorite treats are, they send me a list and that's what I put in them.  Last year our stockings were getting a little ratty looking and my older two wanted new ones for everyone.  I told them I had already bought a pattern for quilted stockings on sale online, but was too busy to make 7 that year, so next year.  They reminded me, "But you taught us how to sew and quilt. We can do all the fabric buying and prep and we can make them together and your family sewing circle can help."  We knocked 6 of them out in one day with my older girls, my mother, 2 of my SILs, my niece, and a friend of the family.  Middle daughter finished the last one the next day.  We bought fabric for youngest daughter's future significant other, who we call Tito because we have to call him something, but it's not been made yet. She is only 11.

[Guest]

You need your dd to go along with him to Christmas shop. Dd and dh usually go to get my presents together, but this year that didn't happen. I'm not sure what my stocking will look like but I think he's had enough experience over the years with dd helping him that it should be similar to previous years. Should be interesting!

True. Things have been better in the past few years because DD has a much better sense of what I like and want than DH or the boys. She wasn't able to go with DH this year, but I did hear her warning him about something before he left and saying, "Remember what I said!"

[HS Mom in NC]

These are my random thoughts on it all - back in the day, when treats and gifts were rare and people waited months for candy, fruit, new toys, etc,  having full stockings was a treat. Now, with our ability to get 'treats' year round - from any gas station or grocery store - I think finding things to put in a stocking has become more cumbersome and expensive. I (like others) don't want to purchase trinkets just to have a full stocking, knowing that most of it will end up in the recycle bin or the Goodwill box within weeks but it also doesn't seem appropriate to fill it with the same goodies we'll buy at Walgreens before we head to a movie iykwim. So the pressure is on to find a treat that has meaning and that usually means an added expense.

 

Interestingly, the treats my older kids ask for in their stockings are things they only eat at Christmas.  They don't have those things other times of year. The youngest seems to think M&Ms in the big, plastic candy cane shape are special and I pick up a few unusual Christmas themed and things for her in addition at the large candy store. The others like things like chocolate oranges and chocolate foiled gold coins which are typically seasonal items at the stores too.

 

My husband requested a variety of mini Scotches in his stocking this year in addition to his annual request for Jordan almonds.  At the candy store they had liquor filled chocolates so I got him some of those too.

 

[Garga]

It's been a progression, that's for sure! I've been married 24 years and it's taken a long time to get to this point.

 

I was raised by overgrown children, and I mean that in the kindest way. My parents were like little kids about Christmas. I assumed everyone was like Elf on Christmas. We would quiver with excitement whenever Christmas came around and we'd eat a roast beast with olives for eyes and rip the paper off the presents and throw it around the room and play non-stop Christmas music for the whole month.

 

My husband comes from a family of subdued people. And they always spent a lot of money on Christmas. And DH never felt that anyone liked the presents that he bought them which made him associate Christmas with overspending (he's naturally very thrifty so that bothered him) and disappointed "Oh. Well. Thank you"s. So he hated Christmas when we married. And most perplexing to me: when they unwrapped their presents, they all stopped to fold the paper and set it aside.

 

It wasn't a good mix. He haaated to buy presents for anyone, and I was all "presentspresentspresents!!!!" Things came to a head the year my son was born (after 10 years of uneasy Christmases.). DH didn't transition well into being the sole breadwinner and our son had colic and cried for hours as soon as DH came home from work. DH was soooo stressed that year. That was the year that DH didn't get me a Christmas present or a birthday present or a Valentine's day present or an anniversary gift or a Mother's Day gift. It was a terrible year.

 

And after that I started buying my own gifts and very frankly telling him, "Here is $10. Go to the dollar store and buy me stuff for my stocking right now."

 

And he's finally shed his hatred of Christmas and I've toned down a tiny, little bit and the kids are old enough that they're not crying for hours every time he comes home :) and Christmases are actually nice. For the past 4 years, he's even bought me a surprise gift along with all the stuff I've bought for myself.

 

I think when the pressure was off of him to come up with a gift idea, and I just went out and bought my own, he started to be able to enjoy the day.

 

 

 

For stockings: I put a big item in each stocking every year to fill up space. This year it's full sized cans of pringles. And then there's usually a small gift that will fit in there that could have gone under the tree, but is stuffed in the stocking instead. For the past couple of years the boys have each gotten a Mixel lego. They come in bags instead of boxes so they fit nicely into stockings. For DH I tend to fill his with some sort of candy and that's about it.

Edited December 22, 2016 by Garga

[J-rap]

Here's another one who didn't know adults did stockings!  

 

We had stockings for kids, filled with things like coloring books and crayons and peanuts, and as they got older, things like magazines and socks and hockey pucks.

 

We stopped doing stockings the year of my dh's injury and we were unable to make it home for Christmas, and then never did them again.  I still hang their stockings up because they look pretty, but they're just for decoration.

 

 

 

[Tina]

My kids love the stockings the best, I think.  And since they're older now, coming up with a couple gifts for under the tree is hard.  Thus, I keep the stockings going (added dil last year) and just have a couple other gifts under the tree.  Dh and I don't do gifts or stockings for each other.  

[gardenmom5]

It's bad enough I had to purchase and wrap gifts for myself - I'm not doing a stocking too.  I used to put candy in mine like the kids - but I don't' care about my stocking anymore.

 

dh is getting better about "thoughtful" christmas gifts that are a surprise, so I don't' feel the pressure to buy something so I'm not disappointed.  but, I still do - but only if there's something I have wanted, and I find a deal on it.  I use christmas to justify buying it.

 

last year was nice because 2dd was thoughtful that way - and she had something for everyone's stocking.  this year - she's in texas.  I wrapped the gifts she sent us, and she wrapped most of what I sent her.  (otherwise I"m paying amazon $4 a pop.  if it was one big thing - fine, but a bunch of smaller items . . not so much.)

 

 

[CadenceSophia]

We do St. Nicholas day on Dec 6 and everyone's boots get filled, child and adult alike. We also do stockings which seems kinda redundant but DH and I both grew up with it.  For DH, stockings were filled with actual presents I think. At my house, stockings were useful things..  hair elastics, tooth paste, tooth brush, chapstick, some candy and maybe a toy, but maybe not. I like the utilitarian stockings, personally ( I was *crushed* the one year my mom didn't give me hair elastics and I had to go out and buy them mysefl!) but DH is completely unimpressed. Nevermind that because he doesn't fill my stocking so I do what I want for all of them :) Sometimes MIL sends stocking stuffers for me. I think she knows that that is the only way it will get filled.

[Serenade]

My DH fills my stocking. Some years it's better than others. Sometimes we give each other stuff to put in our stockings. I'd be disappointed if I didn't have a stocking.

[Bluegoat]

I think its interesting so many people grew up with stockings for kids only, but still do them as adults.

[MEmama]

I think its interesting so many people grew up with stockings for kids only, but still do them as adults.

I think it's interesting how many adults don't do them! I had no idea.

[The Governess]

Dh does my stocking. He also usually finds some things to tuck into the kids' stockings and I fill up the rest. My parents and inlaws still do stockings for every family member.... so we each get three stockings full of stocking stuffers. My kids adore all the little goodies they get - not all candy - and it has been a fun, lasting tradition around here. We all sit in a circle and open them together while I drink my coffee.

[RioSamba]

DH is a pretty awful gift giver. He's loving and generous, and every few years he hits it out of the park, but I do almost all the shopping. DH's gifts usually scream, "I waited until December 23 and then I had to be near (Crate & Barrel/ Jax/ Whole Foods)."I sort of wish he would fill my stocking, but when I think about what he might put in there? I think we'll be maintaining the status quo.

[Sarah CB]

I think its interesting so many people grew up with stockings for kids only, but still do them as adults.

 

When I was growing up stockings were for kids only, but my mother was a single parent so there was no one to fill her stocking.

 

I can't remember when my sister and I decided to start doing a stocking for my mom - definitely after I had kids. It's one of my favourite parts of Christmas morning now. 

[Farrar]

In our family the adults exchange names for stockings. A few years ago, the kids wanted in on this tradition as well so now I don't even necessarily fill the kids' stockings. This year it's just us and my mother. She's doing dh, dh is doing one of the kids, one of the kids is doing his brother, the other kid is doing me, and I'm doing my mom.

 

Honestly, the stockings are the best part of the presents here. And we all have the same style stockings. My mother's - from her childhood - was made by her aunt. Mine was made by that same aunt. Dh's was made by my grandmother (she did my brother's as well), and the kids' were made by my mom. This year my mom did our brand new nephew's and newish sister-in-law's. And she brought me the bag of stocking pattern stuff and told me I had to do their next kid and any subsequent new additions to the family. Ha.

[Plink]

DH fills mine and I fill his.  I love stockings!

 

It is fun to pick out random, tiny, in-cohesive items that you know someone else will love.