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Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Santa brought you what?

Every year at our house, Santa leaves a box of bandaids in each kid's stocking. Not plain, boring bandaids. I'm talking fun ones -- Batman, Spongebob, Hello Kitty, etc. It's a fun and inexpensive tradition and I'm pretty sure Santa will be bringing bandaids until the kids move out and take their stockings with them.

Ours is not the only house where quirky stuff is left under the tree. I know one mom who doesn't allow her kids to eat what she calls "crappy" cereal. But each year at Christmas, she buys every kid their own box of crappy cereal, wraps it up and puts it under the tree. She said it's one of their favorite gifts.

Then last week at the bookstore where I was working, a teenager came in with her mom. We got to talking about fun and silly presents. The daughter said, "My mom is totally a weird gift giver." It turns out that she wasn't kidding. The mom -- who has three daughters -- only buys generic feminine hygiene supplies for herself and her girls. So, you guessed it, at Christmas she buys the good stuff (Tampax, if you must know), wraps it up and puts it under the tree!

What unusual stuff does Santa leave at your house?

6 comments:

Sara said...

I can't say that anything unusual is left at my house but we do have the tradition of an orange or apple in the stocking, and my mom ALWAYS manages to write something off the wall on one gift..This year? Its mine. It says: To: Sara From: Your Friends of The Sea...The content? A 2011 Dolphin calender..The reason I know this? I finally found said calender after searching forever today!

Eternal Lizdom said...

My mom used to fill my stocking, when I was a teen, with deoderant, razors (for leg shaving), toothpaste, and other personal care items. I did it for my husband for a few years- deo, contact solution, etc. He thought I was nuts. I tried to point out the giftiness of it months later when he would run out of deoderant and didn't have to run to the store in a panic search of non-stinkitude but he didn't seem to appreciate it much.

Sharon said...

LOL! I feel bad for those girls. Some things should not be bought generic if it's not as comfortable, ESPECIALLY feminine products!

My mil always gives an orange in stockings.
We don't do anything too crazy--chapstick, stickers, notepads, candy. Years ago my oldest joked about wanting oatmeal, so we sometimes include packs of instant oatmeal. That's as funny as we get. Boring, huh'?
I like the bandaids idea!

Amy said...

Sharon -- I like the instant oatmeal idea. I never buy Pop-Tarts but the kids love them, so I considered buying each of them their own box of Pop-Tarts.

Nate's Mom said...

We each get a new toothbrush. Something fun that lights up or sings, or whatever they're into (kind of like your bandaids. I love the idea of bandaids tho. i like the idea of pop-tarts too. That would make a great Christmas morning treat while opening gifts too.

Beth said...

Santa is good for leaving those things that mom doesn't normally purchase. And he always leaves a toothbrush and toothpaste in everyones stockings and usually some new underwear as well.

This year my most unusual present didn't come from Santa but from my son. He gave me a coconut. When I asked him what the inspiration was behind the gift he said "who else would give you a coconut?" And that is my nutty 8 year old boy.