To ask if we are the ONLY family who have NEVER done Xmas stockings

[StevieBud]

Every year on MN I see all these threads asking for suggestions for stuff to put into stockings and people reply suggesting all kinds of tat.

Or boring stuff like new toothbrushes.

Presents should be under the tree, opened at dawn before consuming a box of Matchmakers.

If I could get away without them I would & will be stopping asap. Unfortunately I have an extremely sensitive, autistic DS who notices everything & will be devastated to know he's missing out when friends, classmates & family go on about them.

I deal with it by putting only a few items in like books, branded PJs, a poster etc. They get tree gifts after breakfast/dressed as we usually have to go elsewhere for Xmas lunch & don't exchange gifts there.

Unfortunately they're now cottoning on to advent calendars & are pestering me for those as well!

We didn’t have them as kids but DH did and we do them for our children, and now I’m mildly disappointed that we didn’t have them as they’re great .

No stockings here. I have a vague memory of clementines at rhe bottom of a stocking as a child but the main draw was a sack of presents. So we do a Christmas box on the first of December that the elves bring and that has all sorts of goodies to rev them up for the Christmas period and their advent calendars then sack of presents at Christmas.

We have felt sacks (bigger than stockings, prob around pillowcase size) for the children, which contain both most of the larger presents and the little silly/useful bits (which aren't 'tat' - when thoughtfully chosen they are by far the best bits of the whole thing). Tree presents are those for the adults and for all of us from people outside the nuclear family and are opened in the afternoon, after lunch and a walk.

I stuff the stockings with assorted sweeties & a tube of Jelly Tots. And I have been for 22 years since I moved to this house with a fireplace lol.

I have 6. Now adult kids & their partners, and one each for the dogs - they get a bone & some treats. Santa would leave Tree Presents to be opened after dinner; small games or puzzles, an online gaming voucher, nothing more than a fiver. Keeps the magic going. Even now they’re well into adulthood. All still with labels ‘love from Santa’. Possibly because I’m a soppy mare.

I shall add handmade stockings to the existing ones if they have children too.

I don’t agree with stuffing a stocking full of crap for the sake of it though. Santa brings a board game

We haven't done them for the past few years as we moved to Germany and they do Saint Nikolaus here instead on the 6th of December. Children polish their boots and leave them outside the front door. Nikolaus fills with sweets/nuts/orange.

But I saw some cute stockings the other day and I went a bit mad and bought the DC one each because not only is that moment where you stretch your feet to the end of the bed and the stocking is filled, heavy and crinkly - magical!! But also from the parents' POV - stockings contain stuff that the DC can do themselves and keep them occupied for a bit when they wake up at 5am and you still need to sleep/make coffee.

We have just got up at about 6/7 the last few years but this tends to mean that the excitement over opening all the big presents is huge and dominates everything so that all present opening is done by about 9am and I find that a bit of an anticlimax!

Have never put a selection box in a stocking, but chocolate coins yes!

Totally agree with @ApplesinmyPocket's description; it certainly captures the magic.

My parents still make stockings for us. That includes partners/wives and grandchildren, too. We range from late twenties to early forties.

They're only full of tat if you buy tat 😜

nope. never done them either.
but we open our presents on christmas eve already (lived in germany for a while).

somehow feels 'right' instead of getting up at silly o'clock on christmas morning, hardly being able to see through the eyes after a frantic night if wrapping and decorating.

@rottiemum88

*Stockings are the best bit!

How do you give things like selection boxes or chocolate coins otherwise? Wrapping them is a waste of time and paper and would be disappointing after the effort of unwrapping.*

Selection boxes are a disappointing present whether wrapped or not 🤷🏼‍♀️

We don't do stockings here. I grew up with just the pile of presents under the tree and I've replicated that as an adult. Then again, I'm happy for DS to wake me at 5am on Christmas Day and actually get up with him rather than distracting him with chocolate and small toys in bed, which is what I've always understood the purpose of stockings to be

What do you do with your child at 5am? He might like staying in his cosy bed opening a sock full of gifts and chocolate. Or he can bring it in to your bed to open with you. Then you have a nice snuggle before “ Christmas Breakfast”. And then on to tree presents...

I’d try it this year. See what he says. Bet you 100 chocolate coins he loves it.

I love stockings. When I was a child and now with my DC, they are not used as a distraction. The children open the presents in the stocking with the parents in the room (used to love doing it in my parents' bed at 7am but we always have MIL staying with us so its in the lounge instead).

Never tat. A fair bit of chocolate. And smaller toys or card games. No toothbrushes or clothes here either. The stockings aren't huge but very are exciting.

Only stockings are from Father Christmas. Under the tree are presents from family which means I can start putting them out during December which makes the tree look prettier and everyone gets more excited.

(Oops, fat sausage finger fail) Santa brings a board game for the whole family; we’ve gone from Connect 4 to a Wii, now it’s Cards Against Humanity & weird expansions & Exploding Kitties.

Last year was the first year we did them for our DC. Absolutely loved seeing their little faces so will continue to be a tradition in our house now

@ApplesinmyPocket

You wake up on the most magical day of the year... there's a fat stuffed lumpy stocking/sack on your bed, full of promise.

You feel inside it.. draw out every silly thing one at a time... wondrous things... things your sensible parents would never have thought of getting you.. ... and there's CHOCOLATE COINS. For BREAKFAST.

The household gradually awakes. You show your stocking and its amazing contents to your siblings, your parents, anyone around the house, and you play with the bits Santa brought and you swap and squabble and all the fun is still to come, everyone excited and full of joy and anticipation (or champagne!). Then there's dinner, with turkey, and crackers and still there are...

...THE PRESENTS, still under the tree.

That's how it's always worked in our house. Keep the magic going past lunch and its adult-only pleasures. As long as possible!

Same here! Stockings are ace.

I’m old and me and siblings always had a stocking and I know my Dad had one when he was a child, but it was a real sock of his fathers. He would have nuts an orange and a coin in it. It’s a tradition that many people follow and although ours are small so don’t contain expensive or big presents it was always the best bit of the day 😄 Kids love it too.

As a kid, the stocking was my fav bit!

As a child we used actual socks. So had things like tangerines, sweets, pencils, fancy rubbers and maybe a small puzzle. And youd be over the moon to get a couple of coins. Limit to what you can fit in a sock.

My kids have fluffy stockings. I have the mindset that individual stocking fillers should be less than a fiver (except underwear/ socks). If an item is over a fiver it's a gift that should be under the tree.

A friend of mine told me they put the stockings next to the children’s bed so the parents can have more time in bed on Christmas morning. The children then spend more time upstairs opening their stocking gifts! I’m not sure if this is genius or a bit grinchy!

My dc races downstairs at 5am Christmas morning and I doubt a stocking would hold them back!

The absolute, sheer joy I felt as a child waking up on Christmas Day with a fat, knobbly, crunchy (from the paper) stocking (one of my Mums Big Socks I’d hung on the end of my bed) lying on the end of my duvet was incredible! It was THE magic of Christmas for me - Father Christmas had actually crept into my room and left it for me!

The entire magic, the culmination of the build up of the season was condensed into that waking moment.

I adored it.

My children had one of their dads socks just outside their bedroom door....neither child liked the idea of Father Christmas in their rooms....
All we out in it was some choc coins ..an orange and a little gift like a mini note pad and mini pencils or a small puzzle....it kept them happy for an hour( on our bed as we dozed) if they woke too early until we went downstairs...where they had a pillow case from Father Christmas ..under the trees was the main gifts..two or three from us !

Never had a stocking growing up. I put one on DCs door handles and told them (when little) if they got up and there was an orange in, Father Xmas had been and all there presents were downstairs.

Forgot one year after too much to drink on Xmas eve, had to do some fast thinking on that one🤪

I love stockings. I may go slightly overboard. Nothing is overly expensive, but neither is it tat. There is a balance between the two. We open them together, on our bed. Then have a leisurely breakfast together. Then have presents mid-late morning.

Stockings are the best bit. One of my favourite memories of Christmas as a child is feeling my stocking on the end of the bed to see if Santa had been yet! The excitement when it was finally full!

Dc open theirs together now whilst dh and I get an extra snooze before we go downstairs. Worth it just for that. No tat here either.

Stockings were the complete Christmas magic for me as a child. Because the stocking came from Father Christmas whereas the presents under the tree were from real people. So the stocking had this magical feeling. It was even wrapped in different hidden wrapping paper from the under the tree presents. But of course because it was the elves who wrapped the stocking presents in the North Pole so of course the wrapping paper was different!

Oh and yes we were allowed to open the stocking as soon as we woke up which was super early when the adults were still sleeping. And yes that lumpy heavy feeling at the end of the bed. The rustle of paper. The weird shapes sticking out of it. Oh the magic!

I had a stocking as a child. My mum always did it as she said it kept us in bed for longer so my dad didn’t have to get up.

I have always done one with my own family. Except my husband always wants to wrap what’s in them which is annoying.

Now the kids are older they are not full of tat but mainly food and treats to eat over Xmas day. I still remember with wonderful joy sitting in bed with my kids opening our stockings together. Now they are teens that doesn’t really happen