Stockings: The Lunch Sack Method

Last year shopping for Christmas gifts, I vowed, never again!!! I had eight stockings to fill and then the gifts...so much money, so much time spent in shops and so much to wrap.

I was talking to my Mom and asking her advice. She managed to do this for eleven kids; she must have some solid counsel. "Hmm, I used brown lunch sacks to organize the stockings." The moment she said that the memories came flooding back.  In September, eleven bags, with our names beautifully written on it, were hidden in her closet. From then on she brought back little things as she saw them filling those brown bags. She always had a planner where she made immaculate lists. I do lists but not like hers. Everything was so organized that on Christmas Eve there was zero stress; except for the year, she hid the brown bags so well she couldn't find them! She managed in the end, and the contents of the bags found their way into our stockings. 

I can't be like my Mom...I am not her, and I don't have eleven kids, so I guess I am off the hook, but nevertheless, I changed a few things this year. I delegated some of the stockings and gifts to my children. Their response was fantastic; they were fully into this adventure. I am feeling less stressed as Christmas approaches, and this year there will be nine of us at our house for Christmas. 

–Allison Ochs, Social Worker M.S.W. , Coach, Expat, Mother of three, Wife

Photo by rawpixel.com on Unsplash