In 1977, with the birth of my first child, I started a tradition of making a new Christmas stocking every year. As the years went by and I had more children, I made more stockings. Then, the children started to marry, and I added the spouses. And, as it will happen, grandchildren trickled in! It got to be quite a lot of stockings to make and fill.

A few years ago, we copied my sister and adopted a new policy for stockings--we decided to exchange names and fill one stocking each, instead of me filling all of them. This is a lot of fun (and a LOT less work!), and I was gloating over the fact that I wouldn't have to make and fill nine stockings, when my oldest daughter said "But Mom, you're still going to make our stockings, right?"

Well, of course I was. Didn't I always? Then I realized that I had to make 9 for kids. spouses, and grandkids, plus two more--one for me and one for their dad. Ok--making eleven stockings is still better than making and filling nine.