No longer having any family, I really find it hard these days to get into the Christmas spirit.

However this year I thought I'd try to break the cycle of depression and try to get all Christmassy (I'm even wearing a Santa tie today).

As well as the big present I've brought, I thought it would be nice to get a christmas stocking full of those little nick nacks that, whilst not qualifiying as a proper "present", as a collection jut make unwrapping things fun.

Thinking along the lines of "stuff", I was looking for such things as those little hooks you can buy women so they can hang their bags on tables at the pub etc etc.

So far I've walked around pretty much every shop in Zürich (ok, a bit of an exaggeration but I've done the usual suspects) and discovered the following.

The Swiss think that a "stocking filler" is some coded reference to a leg.....

It's just impossible to get enough cheap and cheerful "tat" to put in a Christmas stocking...... Oh well, at least I've got her the main present.....

Yep, we don't do the stocking stuff in Switzerland, not traditional here.

But hey, you've got a big present to offer, that's already great!

On a side note, when I was a teenager my then boyfriend - who knew I love unwrapping presents - offered me a box of chocolate with each and every chocolate seperately wrapped in paper. Was so cute!

I know there is a lack of little things to wrap, but chocolates, fruit, and small things you might find in at a grocery or stationer's. Unromantic, but batteries, pens, rubber bands, small notepads are all fairly inexpensive and can easily be wrapped. We did this in the US, where there is a lot of small stuff to wrap and toss into a stocking. Maybe this stuff is better for kids, but I can always use a pen and a little notepad.

Also small sizes of health and beauty. For example, .l'occitaine has a lot of travel sized products which are great stocking stuffers.

Your mention of the leg thing made me chortle. The Swiss fill 'stockings' or sacks with groundnuts still in their shells, mandarins and other nuts, which won't work very well for you.

If you cannot find Christmas stockings, buy a pair of girlie pillowcases. Go to a big supermarket where they have a makeup section - randomly pick lip gloss tubes, eyeshadows and nail lacquers. OK, I know they're not that cheap. Also, get a few real nylon stockings and women's socks. Claire's shop also has some small pretty items (again, not very cheap, sorry). Fill one of the pillowcases with all your purchases (wrap them up individually first if you're so inclined) and the other neatly folded up pillowcase, and tie it up with a matching broad ribbon, or even a measuring tape (useful!). Something different!

Could someone anonymously forward this to my OH please? I would love receiving that!

Saw the handbag hooks in Tchibo today. First time I'd ever seen such a thing. They have a mirror too which is always handy!

http://www.tchibo.ch/Handtaschenhalter-p400009504.html

Great idea!! My OH did that when i turned 29 and twelve months this year. He got 30 presents worth no more that a couple of pounds each but every single one of them meant something. And i got my main present at the end. She would love it im sure

And Sugus, which reminds me that I need to go buy all that stuff tomorrow!

Tom

There are stores open tomorrow?

(Sorry, I'm usually tied up with family activity and have no idea what happens in the outside world here on Christmas Eve.)

Only until 3 or 4pm. Last chance dance!

5PM here!

Anyway, I just went to Denner to get 2kg of Sugus and 1.5kg of peanuts for the stockings, so hopefully I don't need to get too much tomorrow.

Tom

Apparently the Migros at the airport in Geneva is open until 9 but unless you are really really desperate dont go there