What does Santa leave in your stocking?

The big Man is really busy this year, so here are a few fun ideas to help Santa with the Christmas stockings.

• Clever cards: Gift cards are really the perfect stocking-stuffer option as they’re small in size but provide big
  value to the recipient! Checkout the eBillme gift card mall – where you can get deals like 10% cash back rewards, or mail-in rebates on great e-gift cards like Zappos, FootLocker, JCPenney, etc.
• Time to shine:You can never go wrong with Lip Gloss - for kids, Mom, and Grandma.To save some time and money, buy a multi-pack like the 12-bottle Very Berry SPF 15 Panama Jack Lip Gloss.
• Playing games: Young and old - games are an ideal gift. Fill the stocking with small games or travel games. Checkout Scrabble Slam, or a learning game like Brain Age.
  
• Fitness fillers: For the athletes on your list, how about putting energy and protein bars or gel shots into their Christmas stocking? Clif Bar Clif Shot
  Gels are a popular choice for runners and triathletes.
  
• Old County Candy: T'is the season to eat chocolate at 6:15 AM when the kids are opening gifts. So fill everyone's stocking with their favorite treats, like Quality Street from the UK, Cadbury, and other divine chocolate from Europe.

Wondering how the Christmas stocking tradition came to be, and why it’s hung out by the fireplace?

WhyChristmas?com tells the legend of how the generous and rich St. Nicholas – the inspiration for Santa Claus – decided to help out a poor man who could not afford to provide dowries for his three
daughters. One night, St. Nicholas secretly dropped a bag of gold down the
chimney of the man’s house to help pay for his eldest daughter’s dowry, and the
gold fell into a stocking that had been hung by the fire to dry. St. Nicholas
later repeated this for the second daughter, and then was caught by the father.
Although he asked the father not to spread the news of his gift, word got out
and soon St. Nicholas became associated with surprise gifts!

For a long time, people put golden fruit such as tangerines or satsumas to represent the gold St. Nicholas dropped into the stocking, so if you haven’t been doing this, it could be a neat tradition for you to revisit!

Hope these stocking-stuffer ideas help save you time and make Christmas 2010 a merry one indeed!

If you have some ideas and suggestions, please share with us Twitter Moms.

Merry Christmas!