A different kind of stocking up is on my mind today! I am tidying up ready for book group this evening, and have finally taken up some paper bags which have been sitting on the sideboard for a few weeks. I have taken them up to the top floor, and hidden them under our bed (we have one of those beds which opens like a crocodile to reveal secret storage space!).
There is a bag each for Carl, Jessica, Alice, and Mum; it in to these that I squirrel away little treasures ready for wrapping and putting into Christmas stockings.
It is such fun, I have such happy memories of waking to a small but heavy stocking as a child. New felt tip pens, a bottle of matey bubble bath, some chocolate coins…it all felt so magical.
I like to start gathering little treasures a few months before I need them. Partly it helps to spread the cost out, but also it makes it easier not to have a tight deadline when you are looking for treasure.
One lovely thing I found for Carl this year is a small bottle of Ophir gin ready mixed with the tonic. It has such a pretty label.
But now back to my tidying, as there is not long before the school run!
Little Sips of Tea 
Little and often is the only way to do Christmas, isn’t it? And Ophir gin is gorgeous!