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Chautona Havig

Chautona Havig

Using story to connect YOU to the Master Storyteller

3 Ways Cassie Solved the Christmas Stocking Nightmare

by Chautona Havig · 4 Comments

Confession time.  Cassie hasn’t dealt with Christmas stockings yet.  I mean, c’mon.  April Fool’s Day just passed.  And for all her faults, Cassie’s no fool.

So why’s she spouting off about Christmas in April?  Well, because in this alternate timeline, I’m in November, and stocking season is just around the corner.  EEEP!

I sat down with Cassie and grilled her for ideas for a more eco-friendly stocking experience, and she showed me that a lot of what we do is easily translated!  So, I asked her to do a guest post for me on the topic.  Here she is with:

3 Ways Cassie Solved the Christmas Stocking Nightmare

Note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you.

3 Ways Cassie Solved the Christmas Stocking Nightmare

Hey, thanks for having me here on your blog!  I asked Think what he wanted to say to everyone and based on his silence, I think he’s just asking for a nice, warm scarf for Christmas.  He’s always so cold.  Like, you touch him and your fingers freeze!  Scariness.

But I’m supposed to be telling you my Christmas Stocking ideas.  You know—about that nightmare that stocking stuffing can be! What to find, will there be enough to fill it up–too much?  Let’s face it: it can be overwhelming.  It’s especially true when you’re trying not to contribute to the ever-increasing piles of land-fillers otherwise known as stocking stuffers!

First: Get creative and find eco-friendly replacements.

eco-friendly, christmas, eco-friendly christmasWhat do most stockings include?  Well, my parents always, always, always put in a new toothbrush.  As I got older, they added in my favorite toothpaste and sometimes sample mouthwashes or dental flossers.   So, starting with stuff like this, just choose more eco-conscious ideas.  Go for things like wood toothbrushes with natural bristles over plastic ones with plastic bristles.  The same is true of toothpaste.  Get those cool toothpaste Bites instead of toothpaste. Go buy some Dental Lace .  #soundslikeathong #wellitdoes

And this goes for all kinds of stuff. You can do things like shampoo bars, brushes (with wood handles and boar bristles), or even the Kooshoo  hair ties made from organic cotton and natural rubber.  Just teach your kids to take REALLY good care of those things, because they’re pricey.  But here’s the thing.  I figured out that half the problem with hair ties as far as eco-stuff goes is waste.  #alltiedup

We lose them suckers everywhere. 

In the couch, in the car, on the sink and it gets knocked into the toilet.  Hey, I’ll just be honest here.  Think is sporting one as a sports band around his head.  And I think this is where that idea of choosing to make “better” decisions is just as important as a zero-waste decision.  Because women are not going to give up their hair ties. That means the question becomes, “How can we reduce the waste instead of eliminating it?”  #sustainablesustainableliving  #justsaying

Kooshoo is it.  Well, unless you just want to start picking up all the ones I see in the Walmart and Target parking lots.  I mean, that’s an option.  I guess.

It works for everything, though.  Find what you do buy now and see if you can find an alternative that will last longer, took fewer resources to create, won’t end up in the landfill, or some combination of those.  #woolsocksforthewin

Second: Stop stuffing just to make it look full.

I had friends whose parents were all about tons of presents, and that included stockings that overflowed with… well, junk. It’s like they bought out the entire dollar store just so the kid would have their over-sized stocking full of… stuff.

Look, I get it. They’re called stocking stuffers for a reason.  I can hear moms protesting now.  “If I don’t have a big stocking, Johnny won’t feel loved.”  #nottrue

Hint city.  Buy bigger stuff, then.

Socks.  Seriously, stuff that stocking with socks.  Find ones wrapped with sticky paper instead of in plastic bags if you can.  Costco sells K.Bell socks.  Awesome things.  Cheap.  And no plastic.  They also take up a boatload of space.

Put tiny things in reusable boxes.  Seriously.  If you buy a pair of costume jewelry earrings, then stick them in a box.  Wrap it up (I’ll deny I ever said to use wrapping paper!)  Make it nicer to look at and fill up that stocking faster.  #momscancheat #itsnotasin #Jesusisthereasonafterall

3 Ways Cassie Solved the Christmas Stocking Nightmare

Or maybe you could do something even cooler.

Change how your kids perceive stockings by changing how you perceive it.  It’s all about education, about talking, and about showing them that you want them to have special things but that you don’t want to be wasteful in the process.

You can go slowly.  Cut it back by 25% this year. 50% next year.  75% the next or maybe even go whole hog then.  Whatever it takes.  And whatever it takes, make it special.

Christmas can be the “most wonderful time of the year,” but we often make it stressful and disappointing by our unreasonable expectations.  Redefine those expectations—both yours and your kids’.  One at a time.  #moreblessedtogive #stuffersnotlandfillers #redefineexpectations  #babysteps

And third: Don’t be a Scrooge!

3 Ways Cassie Solved the Christmas Stocking Nightmare

Scrooge is the anti-hero of A Christmas Carol. Seriously. Yes, he comes around at the end, but no one likes him.  He has a terrible attitude until it’s scared out of him.  Why would you want to be like that?

Being eco-conscious isn’t something to worship.  Look, I’m all about going all-out when you take on a project.  I think everyone knows that. But if you aren’t careful, you’ll make that stocking and what’s in it more important than the person you’re giving it to.

So buy that “Makeup Eraser” with its crazy amount of packaging (well, if you buy it from Costco instead of Amazon) instead of the small package of makeup wipes.  It might make an initial withdrawal from the landfill reserves, but it’ll pay back hugely later.

If you have a choice between candy wrapped in plastic or in aluminum foil or a box, well then that’s kind of an obvious choice.  But if Skittles are your husband’s only candy vice, buy the stupid Skittles.  Give the guy a break.  Oh, and here’s a hint.  Buy the giant bag.  It’s less plastic in the long run, and it fills the stocking faster.  #jumboforthewin #becauseSkittles #bereasonable

What does it all mean?

You might have fewer items in that stocking this year.  Maybe.  Just make sure that you choose both things your loved ones will want and things that you can feel good about.  Not just because it won’t’ languish in a landfill for a few centuries and still not decompose.  No, I was kind of thinking about how it won’t end up in a landfill at all, because hey.  Let’s face it.

Most of that dollar store stuff does.  Like the week after New Year’s.  It’s kind of like how I was going to throw away all those glasses after my New Year’s party.  Ouch.  #ouch #lessonlearned #youcanthrowitinmybankinstead

So there you have it.

Cassie’s 3 ways to solve the stocking stuffer nightmare.  I wonder how many I’ll pull off myself.  I’m suspecting quite a few since they were all requests from my kids.  😉

I’d like to throw in a fourth.  I just want to be careful with how I state this. 

3 Ways Cassie Solved the Christmas Stocking Nightmare

We do Christmas in our family.  By some standards, we do it BIG.  By others, not so much.  Every year or two, I get an email from someone asking why we celebrate Christmas.  Haven’t I studied the origins?  Aren’t I making it all about “getting stuff” and not about Jesus?

Trust me.  I’ve studied.  I’ve worked through it, over and over.  And in the end, celebrating is something I still feel strongly about.  HERE’s partly why.

But that doesn’t mean that we–including me!–shouldn’t reevaluate every now and then. And it doesn’t mean that instead of stuffing a stocking for your kids for Christmas, you and your kids can’t stuff a “stocking” (read: box) for a child somewhere else in the world.  So maybe it’s time to change it all–and check out Operation Christmas Child for next year’s stocking fun.  My bestekids LOVE their annual tradition of filling a box for another child somewhere!

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Comments

  1. Andrea Rossignol says

    November 17, 2018 at 9:35 am

    But Cassie, you forgot oranges and nuts! They take up a lot of space, are consumable so you don’t fill your house with stuff, and come in biodegradable wrappers!

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      November 18, 2018 at 3:42 am

      They’re my faves, but she seemed to think no one did those anymore!

      Reply
  2. Joy @ Real World Bible Study says

    November 16, 2018 at 7:22 pm

    #cassie’shashtags

    Also, Friday brain read this:
    Well, unless you just want to start picking up all the ones I see in the Walmart and Target parking lots. I mean, that’s an option. I guess.

    It works for everything, though.

    As this:

    Well, unless you just want to start picking up all the ones I see in the Walmart and Target parking lots. I mean, that’s an option. I guess. It works for everything, though.

    ———————————————————————————

    My mom always puts school supplies in stockings. I’ve definitely gotten socks. (By the way, grownups love “boring” Christmas presents like clothes. Especially while paying off debt.) And I remember always trading with my siblings for so-and-so’s favorite candy.

    Here’s a great space-taker-upper-stocking-stuffer: TOWELS. #4 would love that, right?

    Reply
    • Chautona Havig says

      November 18, 2018 at 3:48 am

      I love that you remember what #4 did. Got a complaint today. Apparently, she’s now counting plates and bowls when people come over so she can find out where they go. #2son’s friends have taken to hiding some every time now. Let the chaos commence.

      Reply

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The Because Fiction Podcast

The Because Fiction Podcast
The Because Fiction Podcast

Taking the pulse of Christian fiction

Episode 234: A Chat about The Chosen Kids with RM Ruiz
byChautona Havig

Remember when you were a kid and you wanted to help with whatever the family was doing, so Great Aunt Tissy gave you a stack of napkins and told you to put one at each plate? Remember how she commented on what a  “big girl” you were?  And then, as if that weren’t bad enough… remember how you were fourteen and a “big girl” was the last thing you wanted to be? 

RM Ruiz’ The Chosen Kids Saga does just the opposite. She has a cast of related characters who are given real work by God–important work. They’re pulling on the armor of God and doing real battle with real enemies of the Kingdom of God and all while He works out their sanctification. Listen in to where she got the idea and where the Chosen Kids are going next.

Note: links may be affiliate links that provide me with a small commission at no extra expense to you!

What if God Decided to Use Ordinary Kids to Battle the Underworld?

Can I just say that I love the respect Rosemary shows her characters? These kids, as young as eleven, aren’t told to fold napkins and praised as if they saved the world. They’re given tools and assignments and do save the world… or at least a piece of it and with the real help of the Holy Spirit. How cool is that?

And she does it with a tortilla in one hand and some eye and mouth-watering chili stuffs in the other.

Oh… and don’t forget the research for Encounter at Paradise that sent her up a literal slippery slope into frozen tundra. In July. #BecauseResearch.

And the result is book two of the Chosen Kids Saga! (To listen to the first episode where we talked more about the first book, go HERE.)

The Chosen Kids: Encounter at Paradise by RM Ruiz

A thrilling adventure for middle-grade readers, showcasing the supernatural powers of God, His son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.This is the second book of The Chosen Kids Saga.The Chosen Kids are ready for their second mission!

It’s been two weeks since Caiden and his family’s summer of fun turned into a secret quest for God. After their first mission, the Chosen Kids step into their new roles without fear or reluctance. With revived faith and God’s blessed tools, they embark on their second hunt—ready to track, capture, and expel the enemy.

But the day turns into a tedious game of hide-and-seek as the family races to get ahead of the fiend. When the unthinkable happens, and their mission becomes personal, they must keep the faith and trust God’s plan. They could set things right with the Holy Spirit’s guidance, but only if they obey His commands completely. Caiden thinks he’s uncovered the answer, but no one ever listens to the youngest cousin…

With nightfall quickly approaching, the Chosen Kids set a trap.

But if their plan fails, they could lose one of their most valuable assets, and their quest will end in heartbreak and disaster.

In this next chapter of the Chosen Kids Saga, readers will see the cousins in action as they take on their new roles with renewed spirits. Just like the first book, this fast-paced adventure includes family love, kid banter, and humor with even more adventure, danger, and spiritual growth!

This series mixes fantasy and adventure elements with transparent Christian themes for young believers who want a story that includes gospel truths without reading through symbolism.

Middle-grade readers will follow along as these flawed, relatable characters—still finding their way in Christ—embark on a life-transforming quest to save humanity. With family love, spiritual growth, kid banter, and humor all mixed in for a fun and exciting journey.

The adventure starts with Encounter at the Dunes and continues in Encounter at Paradise. Grab a copy of both to begin the redemptive journey today! Book three, Encounter At Ambrose, coming summer 2024.

Learn more about the series, the characters, and Rosemary at TheChosenKids.com

And the series she mentioned was The Son of Angels.

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Episode 234: A Chat about The Chosen Kids with RM Ruiz
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June 6, 2023
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