Hey guys, sorry for the tardy post…I know I promised this to you yesterday. Little Elliot has been super clingy with a low fever and has her own ideas for content whenever I pull out my laptop.

While she was napping yesterday afternoon, I let Harper hang her stocking by the chimney with reckless abandon care and I was thinking back to her first Christmas when I cried like a baby when I received her stocking in the mail. It’s just that stockings are my favorite.

Last week I shared that we will be following the something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read approach with the girls this year. As for stockings, I came up with this little ditty:

Something to eat, something to drink, something to play, something to think (or wink!)

Eat 

Growing up, my mom always made sure we had our favorite See’s candy chocolate in our stocking. I have a friend whose mother always puts a fresh juicy orange down in the foot of hers. If you have a large family, I think it would be sweet to order a tray of Harry & David fruit and disperse among the different stockings.

Drink

Reminisce about that favorite coffee place you visited every morning on vacation and order some coffee beans online. Stumptown Hair Bender is a family favorite in these parts. For tea drinkers, Harney & Sons make these darling little mini tins (in over 10 flavors!) perfect for stockings and hold five tea sachets.

Play

I always throw in some ping pong balls for Jim. Mostly because they are lighter and cheaper than golf balls. Ha.

I can’t remember where I first saw them, but I have since had my eye on these wooden pocket magnets for the girls for a while now. (If you are thinking of magnets, they are obsessed with this Curious George magnetic tin I brought home on a business trip once.)

For your yogi friend or family member, these individually wrapped mat wipes are awesome and smell great.

Think

Thinking about others is the spirit of Christmas. Bombas socks donates one pair of socks for every pair purchased to those in need. (Socks are the top requested clothing item at homeless shelters.)

Every year since I’ve had an address of my own, my mom has renewed my magazine subscription to Real Simple or Sunset magazine. Subscriptions are the gift that keeps on giving. I was just talking with a friend last week who plans to give the girls a subscription to National Geographic Little Kids. (I’m embarrassed to say I had no idea they have 5 different magazines!) What an amazing gift. I am so excited for them.

Brain teasers are fun crowd favorites. I can’t tell you how many hours my family and friends have spent attempting to get the ring off the horseshoes.

Wink

Santa always seems to leave the men in the family matching holiday-themed boxer shorts. (Not that they ever wear them in unison. Or maybe they do. That’s only for Santa to know, I suppose.)