I am feeling relieved. This year, I decided I'd buy some things locally and ship them to my relatives in Canada, instead of ordering stuff online from Canadian retailers that would be shipped to them directly. I got some really nice things during the Black Friday sales, but of course, I wasn't thinking all that clearly about shipping costs and/or bulk when it comes to parcels. In the meantime, I kind of messed up - bought things I thought the person would enjoy, but without thinking of shipping costs at all. Oops. Don't laugh, but in addition to a nice sweater-jacket type thing, I somehow managed to buy a *four pound* jar of umpteen flavours of Jelly Belly jelly beans for my aunt. I know she will love it, its just that it was kind of dumb of me to buy these bulky things that have to be shipped. Ah well - it's ALL DONE - yay!!
Today was the most fun of all - I managed to ship off the main parcels, and as a result, I could focus on finding fun stocking stuffers for my husband.
I still have a lot to do, but I just *loved* finding all kinds of treats for my husband's stocking. I still smell like men's skin creams (as a result of opening and smelling things before buying). Had a blast at Whole Foods buying up fancy chocolate, single-serve sizes of Justin's nut butter in flavours like Maple Almond.
Knowing my luck, the stuff I've bought for husband's stocking will not actually fit into his stocking, and I'll have to use half a pair of hosiery instead. This seems silly, but it works. If you have a bunch of stocking stuff that won't fit into a typical stocking, you can always cut a pair of hose in half, fill it with Christmas goodies, and tie off with a fancy wired ribbon. My husband *loves* it when I do this. This kind of stocking takes a really long time to get through - probably because I also wrap every single item in it. So, if you have way too many stocking stuffers, and you also have a pair of hose that maybe has a run ....snip the hose in half, fill the half-stocking with wrapped goodies, no matter how small or insignificant, and tie the top with a fancy ribbon. Just one of the weird things I do when it becomes necessary (ie. the stocking stuffers won't all fit into a typical stocking). It's kind of funny seeing the person having to reach way down into the half-pair of hose/tights to retrieve the next present/stocking stuffer.
Don't let those ruined hose go to waste - they make great stockings at this time of year. You can even coordinate those micro-fishnets with matching wired ribbon.
Yes, it will take an hour-plus to get through one of these 'stockings' but it's a lot of fun.
