Today is The Day

Today is the day that the family comes and I am SO EXCITED!

The stockings are all hung at the mantel and stuffed full of goodness and treasures chosen as extra treats. 

There's a special extension cord for the grown gals. I ordered one for myself back in the spring and I just love it. So, I thought they needed one, too! There's good smelling treats to freshen their cars and a jar of smelly jelly from Yankee Candle. There were so many fragrances to choose from and the names of them were just enticing! Warm Luxe Cashmere, Coconut Beach, Mcintosh, and Lemon Lavender, are the ones I finally chose. Don't those names just make you want to curl up with a book and a cup of warmness to sip through the winter? (I may have splurged and picked out a couple of wonderfully named varieties for myself, too!) I always add a kitchen gadget of some kind and this year's first choice turned out to be a dud. I saw this thing that would be an easy guide for cutting up lettuce and ordered all of us one. Not so much. They will get that but they will also get one of these cute little snack bowls that I like so much! I'm going to encourage them to fill it with candies or Christmas Crack to snack on the road. 

There's an inexpensive little jewelry trinket - an elasticized beaded bracelet that is fun to slip on to brighten up the day.  I ordered myself some last year and every single time I wore one to work, a coworker or a student would comment on how fun it looked and who doesn't need a little fun in their lives some days? There's also some things that all moms need like a stick for preventing or treating chapped lips, hand sanitizer, and sanitizing wipes. I hit upon a great sale with some fun flavorful fragrances and loaded up on them for stocking stuffers for everybody!

For the grown guys there's chapped lip prevention, which is an annual staple for stuffing stockings since back in the beginning of my stocking stuffing times. There's home-made deer jerky provided by the mister. There's some sort of tool or gadget that every guy needs to keep in his truck. They each got a headlamp flashlight because they probably will have times when they need to shed a little light on something while their hands are full. The rest of the space is filled with Little Debbie treats, candy, and peanut butter cracker snacks. Mike says, "Something to eat is always a good gift!"

The little fellows also got a headlamp flashlight because I figured they'd want it for playing outside after dark and dad would not want them borrowing his. All the grands get socks in their stockings because the family joke is that when you are on the naughty list you get socks and underwear! They also get some hand sanitizer, lip balm, and sanitizing wipes because I thought that would fit into backpacks pretty well and we all need those items during the winter - especially now. They have some snack treats and little games for keeping them quiet when that is needed by mom. All the grands also got a Gratitude Journal. Don't we all need to pause every so often and think about how grateful we are? I figure it is never too early to encourage this as a practice and this option has spaces for picture drawing, early writing, inventive spelling and all those things this school teacher wants to encourage the young grands to experience!

The female grands are sort of divided into the bigs and the littles. Four of them are tweens and teens. So, they got a cute change purse with a bee on it which I hope makes them think fondly of their Grand B! They also got things like lip gloss and make up applicators and nail files. Of course, the lip balm, hand sanitizer, and sanitizing wipes also went into their stockings because they carry backpacks, too. They got cute socks, fun bracelets, mirrored sunglasses, a cool face washing scrubber, and a gratitude journal as well. All of the granddaughters got necklaces with a fun and wise message from their loving grandparents. The three little girls also got lip balm, hand sanitizer, and sanitizing wipes. Cute little anklets, fun bracelets, and fruit snacks rounded out their full stockings. 

As you can tell, the stocking stuffing is always a fun way for me to give quirky treats and odd things that make us all smile and some things that are necessities but always good as a gift as well. We generally share a meal first and the littles' excitement sort of builds as they try to imagine what might be in the stack of gifts. They tend to eat very little because playing with one another is far more important when we are all together. 

Once we dig into the pile, chaos ensues! Then, they all have to check out what one another got and play time continues. This year there are nerf guns, stomp rockets, doll accessories such as gardening toys and cooking toys and doll makeup, and pound puppies and Minnie Mouse dolls. Of course, all the grands get clothes because I still find it fun to shop for children's clothing since I only do it for birthdays and Christmas. We adhere to the general rule of something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read. So, that is what fills the boxes. Everybody provides a list and I get to choose gifts from the list. Some get bigger ticket items (costing over $100 - we do buy for 18 people, you know) and some get several lesser items. No need to plaster on the smile and say thanks for something that they will never use or want. The lists help me immensely and I feel certain they are satisfied with everything they get that way - very little need to return or dispose of an unwanted item when I know exactly what I'm looking to buy! We like to give experiences such as trip to the zoo or something like that but since last year's zoo tickets have yet to be used, this year there's Stuff.

Mike and I have spent the morning quietly sipping coffee and building our energy to be prepared for the excitement of their visit. I've got to sign off and put the hash brown casserole, breakfast casserole, and sausage balls in the oven. Then, mix up the breakfast punch and crock pot hot cocoa. Mike has already ambled to the kitchen to start frying bacon, warm the country ham, and bake the biscuits. The table is set and we think we are, too!