It’s here! It’s officially December and before my gift guide comes out next week, I thought we’d start where Christmas morning always does, with the stocking. In my house it was tradition that you could open your stocking before breakfast, but you couldn’t have any real presents until after finishing a family meal, the Christmas breakfast of my parent’s tradition? Fried eggs and chicken livers – yuck! As I got older, and my detest for chicken livers grew, my dad did something sneaky, he put the present I most wanted in my stocking so I got to have it before breakfast; I remember the excitement the year I got my very first cell phone. ‘Twas the night before Christmas when he sat me down and explained to me how much a phone would cost and that him and my mom couldn’t make it work that year, the next morning I was shocked to reach into the toe of my stocking and pull out the box. In honor of this tradition, I think stockings should be something special and thoughtful.

I put a lot of effort into stockings this year. I made two main stockings, one for me and Darren (from Santa) and one for my brother, Andrew, and his girlfriend, Chelsea. The contents were pretty much the same in each. I started with the idea that I really wanted each couple to have matching pajamas to wear Christmas morning.  I got both sets off ASOS, and the brand is Chelsea Peers, you can find me and Darren’s set here, and Andy and Chelsea’s here. They are so cozy and I just love the prints! They have llama printed ones that are currently in my cart too, but sadly they don’t have a men’s set, so no matching with Darren there!

Next, I thought about that in-between time on Christmas morning, while you wait for breakfast to be ready, and thought what better way to enjoy that than with a hot cocoa, so I picked up a Starbucks hot cocoa kit, which comes with stencils to make a snowflake or design on top of your drink – Instagrammable! As for the marshmallows, I ordered the holiday pack from Hudson Valley Marshmallow company, which included vanilla, peppermint, and gingerbread, and got these cute mugs from the Target dollar section, which by the way, did you know there are multiple Instagrams dedicated to the finds there?! 

What are you gifting this year? Did you have a similar family tradition?! Stay tuned, because his and hers gift guides will be out soon!