As a parent with young children, I used to wonder how it would feel once my children grew up and stopped believing in Santa Claus.
How would we stop the wonderful Christmas morning ritual of opening their Christmas stockings together?What would we do to replace that warm feeling of all sitting round with delightful gifts from Santa? Well, my children are going to be 21, 19 and 16 this coming Christmas, and we still continue to enjoy the wonderful myth of Santa - though they stopped believing in him long ago.
Last year my suggestion that everyone was old enough to manage without their stockings from Santa was greeting by an uproar - in particular, from my eldest son who simply loves the magic of Christmas.
Although each of my children still get plenty of presents under the tree, the fun of choosing small and appropriate gifts for their stocking is one of the most enjoyable preparations for Christmas.
Each year I enjoy choosing them gifts such as gold-wrapped chocolate coins, crazy toys & stocking fillas, a book and/or magazine that they'll enjoy reading, dried fruits (- such as apricots, or figs), useful stuff like fun rulers, erasers and pencils, character socks or underwear, as well as the obligatory silver coin and satsuma or orange for the bottom of the stocking.
In recent years I've added a DVD to the list too - buying these cheap from discount outlets has meant that it's not so expensive - although for many people this is a luxury.
I now budget about the same for the stocking as I do for their present itself - around £40-£50.
In previous years, I've managed to fill their stockings for around £15 - in fact, they all say that their best year was the year that their stocking was full of nuts and dried fruits.
I have often started collecting stocking filler items as early as the summer - particularly when the children were young and finances were particularly stretched.
In the July sales there's often plenty of bargain & fun items that are ideal stocking fillers.
Each year I wonder if our tatty stockings (they're all long socks left over from my teenage years or from their grandfathers rugby days) will manage to hold these goodies bursting out of them.
Every year I wonder how I'll manage to find enough to fill one of these socks, but end up with more gifts and toys than there's room for.
Whatever your children enjoy or like - with a little creativity you can ensure that their eyes will light up on Christmas morning as they sit on their beds and open their full-to-bursting Christmas stockings.
How would we stop the wonderful Christmas morning ritual of opening their Christmas stockings together?What would we do to replace that warm feeling of all sitting round with delightful gifts from Santa? Well, my children are going to be 21, 19 and 16 this coming Christmas, and we still continue to enjoy the wonderful myth of Santa - though they stopped believing in him long ago.
Last year my suggestion that everyone was old enough to manage without their stockings from Santa was greeting by an uproar - in particular, from my eldest son who simply loves the magic of Christmas.
Although each of my children still get plenty of presents under the tree, the fun of choosing small and appropriate gifts for their stocking is one of the most enjoyable preparations for Christmas.
Each year I enjoy choosing them gifts such as gold-wrapped chocolate coins, crazy toys & stocking fillas, a book and/or magazine that they'll enjoy reading, dried fruits (- such as apricots, or figs), useful stuff like fun rulers, erasers and pencils, character socks or underwear, as well as the obligatory silver coin and satsuma or orange for the bottom of the stocking.
In recent years I've added a DVD to the list too - buying these cheap from discount outlets has meant that it's not so expensive - although for many people this is a luxury.
I now budget about the same for the stocking as I do for their present itself - around £40-£50.
In previous years, I've managed to fill their stockings for around £15 - in fact, they all say that their best year was the year that their stocking was full of nuts and dried fruits.
I have often started collecting stocking filler items as early as the summer - particularly when the children were young and finances were particularly stretched.
In the July sales there's often plenty of bargain & fun items that are ideal stocking fillers.
Each year I wonder if our tatty stockings (they're all long socks left over from my teenage years or from their grandfathers rugby days) will manage to hold these goodies bursting out of them.
Every year I wonder how I'll manage to find enough to fill one of these socks, but end up with more gifts and toys than there's room for.
Whatever your children enjoy or like - with a little creativity you can ensure that their eyes will light up on Christmas morning as they sit on their beds and open their full-to-bursting Christmas stockings.
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