Spanish, German, or Other Children's Foreign Language Music CDs

If you live in the United States and you have little ones, here's a fun stocking stuffer that is also a painless way to help your child have a lifelong advantage in the workplace: fluency in a foreign language. As a country, we are so far behind the rest of the world in teaching and learning foreign languages. Study after study has shown that the earlier you start, the easier it is to learn. And at the younger ages, it can be just plain fun instead of work. If I had children, I would probably choose either German or Spanish: German because we think that three of my four great-grandparents came from Germany, or Spanish because I live in Texas, and many job listings prefer (although they don't require) at least a familiarity with Spanish.

I think the best way is to start with a CD of fun children's songs in the language, such as Songs in Spanish for Children or Kinderlieder (shown above). Play them in the car and sing along -- much better than a DVD that only your child in the backseat can see!

If your child seems responsive, you can even make it a Christmas stocking tradition, with a language CD or DVD or set of flashcards, advancing in difficulty as your child learns, each year. You can also pair the stocking gift with children's picture books in that language. Make the effort to learn the language with your child, if you don't already know it. If you stick with it, it truly is a gift that will keep giving for your child's entire lifetime.

Nativity Stocking Tradition

Here's a stocking tradition I always thought would be fun if I had kids. I've always enjoyed the nativity story, and I love nativity figures and scenes. So I think it would be fun to take the nativity figures -- as long as they're not overly fragile or valuable -- and randomly divvy them up at the bottom of the family's stockings. Then, if the stockings are the first gifts looked at on Christmas morning, the family could assemble the scene in the waiting manger as they come across the figures in their stockings. I think it's a great reminder of why Christmas came to be celebrated, and I think little ones would learn to love this tradition, because children like familiar stories. Just as I always fall in love again with my favorite Christmas ornaments when I unpack them each year, I think children would delight in seeing their favorite figures appear each Christmas morning.

The particular nativity set shown above would work especially well, I think. The figures are made of cast resin, and shouldn't break easily. They're of a shape that I think would appeal to small children -- in fact, they remind me of Weebles! Each figure is 1.5 to 2.5 inches high, and while the whole set of eleven figures originally was listed on the Signals website at $59.95, as of today the set is on sale for $29.95. It includes the Holy Family, the Three Kings, an angel, a shepherd, a cow, a lamb, and a bull.

Family Games Night: Mille Bornes, Waterworks, Spoons, and Spit

Without getting too preachy about it, I want to say that I strongly believe in family games night. It was important back when I was a kid, but nowadays, when a lot of kids immediately retreat after dinner (assuming the family eats together) to their bedroom for the iPod, computer, or television, it's really important. Also, I don't have kids so I'm hardly an expert, but I have to imagine that it's easier to start this kind of tradition when the kids are younger, before it's not "cool" anymore.

Obviously, most games won't fit inside a Christmas stocking, but I fondly remember two games from my childhood that are still available and that might fit in a stocking. The first is Mille Bornes, which according to the Babelfish translation website is French for "Thousand Terminals". It's a game in which each player is taking an imaginary road trip with the goal of traveling 1,000 miles. But your opponents try to sidetrack you by sending stoplights, flat tires, and accidents your way. Amazon lists it as for ages 8 to 12, but I've enjoyed it many times as an adult. The box is 1.5 x 5 x 6 inches, so it would take a wide-mouthed stocking to hold it, but it might work.... As of today's writing, it's available on Amazon for only $10.79.

The other game was originally from the same company, although I think the manufacturers of both games have since changed. This one is called Waterworks, and it's similar in that you lay down cards and your opponents put other cards on top of them. This time, you're putting down pipes that turn, branch off, or go straight, and the other players try to stop your water flow by putting down leaky pipes on top of your good ones. The bad news is, Amazon is listing this game at $63.99 from a Marketplace seller, which is ridiculous, of course. The good news is, it turns out you can get a Card Game Classics Tin for $25.99 (also from a Marketplace seller) that contains cards and rules for Waterworks, Mille Bornes, Pit, and Canasta, all in one place. (Canasta... that's another one we used to play.) This one is too large for a stocking, unfortunately, but it's still a nice gift idea. And it's possible the price for Waterworks will come down, or that it will be reissued again.

However, you don't have to go even this "fancy" to incorporate games night into your family's stockings. You can always put a generic pack of playing cards in a stocking. But don't just leave it at that -- print out and put in the rules for Spoons, or the rules for Spit and put them in the stocking too. These are two card games that are simple enough for kids too young for canasta, but quick-moving and fun for adults. Spit is also an excellent sitting-on-the-floor at the airport kind of game. If you're traveling for the holidays with kids, you just might need something like that!

Gold Dollar Coins / Start a Coin Collection

Folks in the United States are fairly familiar the Sacajawea dollar coin that was first issued in the year 2000. Me, I'm a big fan of the dollar coin idea. I still have a few Susan B. Anthony dollars tucked away, and I've put aside some Sacajawea coins too because I really like them.

But how many people know about the Presidential $1 Coin Program that started in 2007? Similar to the state quarters program in which they issued five new quarters per year, now the U.S. Mint is issuing four $1 coins per year, featuring the American Presidents in the order in which they served. The 2009 coins will feature William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, and Zachary Taylor. The U.S. Mint website has a program overview page, including an FAQ link.

So what am I getting at? Shiny gold $1 coins would make nice stocking stuffers for kids, especially to start a little coin collection. These coins are at least a bit educational, especially if you can get your kids interested in juvenile biographies of those featured on the coins. Check at your bank to see if they'll be getting the coins in regularly, and if they still have any of the 2007 and 2008 presidential dollars available.

It might also be fun to spread them a little throughout the year -- the February released coin could go in the Easter basket, for instance. And don't forget to fit Susan B. Anthony and Sacajawea in there at some point! You can also bring back coins from any foreign trips, of course -- even Canadian coins seem exotic to American kids. (The Looney and the Tooney will be especially big hits.)

Start a Charm Bracelet

I've been wanting to write this post for a while, but was having trouble finding the information online that I needed. Basically, I think that starting, and later "outfitting", a nice charm bracelet would be a lovely stocking tradition for any girl or women, and particularly for a daughter as she grows up and develops new interests. I tend to think the girl should be old enough to appreciate that charms are not toys, but rather jewelry to be kept and treasured for years. Also, a slightly older girl will have more interests so you can choose charms that have personal meaning for her. I probably wouldn't start one before age seven or eight, I think.

In any case, I finally came across the website for Rembrandt Charms, and I'm very impressed. They have a fun online feature where you can design a charm bracelet and print out your design with the exact product numbers for those charms, plus a list of retailers within your zip code that are likely to carry them. At first, I was worried that the prices would be too outrageous, but I found that as long as you stick with sterling silver instead of gold, the prices are reasonable -- especially if you're spreading this out as a charm-a-year in the Christmas stocking. (This would also work well as a birthday tradition.)

The first year, of course, you'd want to get the bracelet itself, and the first charm to attach to it. I found the lovely sterling silver bracelet picture above with a suggested retail price of $21. Then I found the first charm I would choose for myself: Aquarius, for my birth sign. The "design your own bracelet" feature is fun because you can put in any key word, see the results, then drag the charm up to the bracelet. Here's my finished design (sorry you can't see the detail very well; this is the largest I could make the image):

In addition to my water-bearing Aquarius sign, I found a feather quill pen (because I'm a writer), a book (because I'm a librarian and an avid reader), a space shuttle (because I'm into space and science fiction), a cat (because I have, um, several of them), a sea turtle (because I like them), a soccer ball (because I used to play), and an ice hockey goalie (my favorite sport to watch).

The only drawback I found to the "design your own bracelet" feature was that many times, results would come up as if there were charms, but one or more boxes would be blank. That may signify that certain charms have gone out of production, but in any case, don't be alarmed. You wouldn't actually be purchasing the bracelet and charms from this website, but rather going (if you wanted to) to a local jeweler that carries the merchandise.

Alternatively, you can just shop for charms in jewelry department stores. Or you could try the James Avery stores or website. The James Avery charms (pictured left) are priced a bit higher than the Rembrandt Charms (several of them seem to hover around $40 for sterling silver), but they're gorgeous and look to be of very high quality. The website has a nice search feature by categories of charms, such as children's, customer favorites, women, teens, religious, etc.

And remember, if you started this tradition, you would really have a whole year each year to find just the right charm. Souvenirs from trips are especially nice -- I remember that my parents got me a Tinkerbell charm at Disneyworld, and then an alligator charm when they went on a trip to South Carolina. I bought myself a beer stein charm the year I lived in Germany. Someone gave me a Christmas tree charm as a gift, and I got an American flag charm through Camp Fire Girls. Sadly, I'm not sure where my charm bracelet is. I think I still have it, but after too many cross-country moves to count, I'm not 100% sure.

But back to the topic at hand: if I had a daughter, you bet this would be a stocking tradition. The first year would have the bracelet with the first charm attached, and in subsequent years, the little box holding the charm could be tucked down in the toe of the stocking. It's the kind of thing that a girl could pass on to her own daughter years later, and each charm would have a story to go with it. What do you think?

The Toilet Paper Tootsie Roll Gift Certificate

I know that post title sounds strange, so I'll explain.

As hard as this may be for some of you youngsters out there to believe, there used to be a time when every retail store and restaurant did not offer handy-dandy swipe 'em credit-card-style gift cards.

Gasp!

Instead, a few stores, like JCPenney's or Waldenbooks or Macy's, offered paper gift certificates. My first job in high school was at Waldenbooks, and we sold lots of paper certificates. Then someone would come in and use some of the amount, and we had to issue a paper credit slip for the balance, which they would then come in and use part of, and we had to issue another credit for that balance, and so on and so on. Not quite as convenient as a plastic gift card for the recipient or the store.

And in any case, often my mother would want to get each of us a pair of pants and a sweater for school, for instance, but she didn't want to limit us to a particular store, or perhaps the store she had in mind didn't offer gift certificates. So she would write up a generic gift certificate: "To Amy, one sweater of your choice, Love Mom & Dad." Then she would slide it into an empty toilet paper roll or a portion of a paper towel roll, wrap that in red or green tissue paper, tie off the ends with curly ribbon, and maybe stick on a Christmas decal or two. Presto! A large, colorful, Christmas Tootsie Roll!

Nowadays, not only are convenient plastic gift cards available for just about every store and restaurant under the sun, there are even general Visa gift cards and American Express cards. But. Have you been reading the papers lately? What happens when you buy a loved one a gift card in December and the store goes out of business in January? Unless the store/chain specifically names its gift card holders as creditors in a Chapter 11 filing, those gift card holders may be out of luck. Furthermore, some gift card issuers still get away with charging convenience charges of $1 or $2 per month after a certain length of time (the laws on this can vary from state to state), or they try to enforce an expiration date.

So it seems to me that we've come full circle. The plastic gift cards are very convenient if the store doesn't go out of business, and the card has no convenience/service charges associated with it, and the recipient doesn't lose it. (I had my purse stolen a few months ago, and lost three gift cards that still had balances. Because I didn't have the giftcard numbers or remaining amounts written down, they couldn't be replaced.)

Which means that a Toilet Paper Tootsie Roll Gift Certificate, for a pair of jeans, a DVD of choice, or a dinner out at a favorite restaurant, is still a pretty darn good way to go. And you can make the intended gift as inexpensive or as expensive as you choose. For an extra touch, in addition to your paper certificate, you can fill the roll with actual Tootsie Rolls (which now come in Christmas-colored wrappers) or other candy.