Old socks planted at the bottom of the bed, awaiting the arrival of Santa? In the morning, they’d be magically filled with all manner of Christmas stocking fillers, simple goodies like oranges and apples, nuts, sweets and the odd little trinket. Goodness me, didn’t we tuck into them with relish. What a treat. Times were tough so we didn’t expect very much out of life. But we couldn’t have been any happier. During better times, the sock was sometimes replaced by a pillow case and the standard of stocking filler decidedly improved, the orange and apple being replaced by a doll, a cap gun, or a couple of books and games.

How times have changed. If you remember the old sock at the bottom of the bed, you’ve probably reached a good half century in your life, maybe even more! Now Christmas stocking fillers are liable to be anything from an iPad or mobile phone to the latest designer watch or expensive bottle of perfume. And you’re likely to find luxury chocolates replacing the simple packet of sweets.
Mind you, a couple of years back, there was a real hullabaloo surrounding the creation of one of the most expensive stocking fillers ever. At the time, it was dubbed the ultimate in bling, a diamond-encrusted MP3 player priced at a mere £25,000. The casing was made to order of either white or yellow gold and included platinum engravings. The Beckhams were rumoured to be interested in buying one.

Whether true or not, it seemed to signal the start of a stocking filler gold rush targeted at the rich and famous. Over the top doesn’t come close to describing it. Offerings included a computer mouse studded with diamonds and costing a cool £15,500. Of course, the mouse would have perfectly complimented the pair of 18-carat gold earphones, encrusted with 59 diamonds on each bud, retailing at the value-for-money price of just under £3,500. Phew! Hope they lasted just a little bit longer than the usual plastic made-in-Taiwan Poundland earphones you or I are more used to! Despite all the garish headlines, illustrating all too clearly how money and common sense don’t always mix, the world of bling has certainly not destroyed the stocking-filler spirit residing inside most of us. Far from it. So we don’t perhaps go in for the apple and orange any more, but the sense of proportion is still there.

As a consequence, many of us do try and make the effort to limit the value of the stocking filler, realising it is merely the aperitif, and not the main course of the day. Thus the sense of excitement, and the rolling crescendo that is Christmas day, is well and truly preserved. And as for the old sock, hanging at the bottom of the bed? Well, it’s still there, in the memory, ready and waiting to be filled with apples and oranges and sweets and all kinds of simple goodies. Sadly, it’ll wait there forever because that was always going to be its fate.