My Aunt Susie used to throw an annual stocking party sometime right around Christmas. It was a made-up holiday, a flexible date all us cousins could make, the ones who wouldn't all see each other on Christmas proper. Colonel Sanders catered the event with regular and extra crispy and the Dollar General Store provided the gifts in lieu of the heavy-set man in the red suit.

It was all great fun. The start and end time was purposely fuzzy - by definition you couldn't be late and the pressure that creeps into Christmas - it just wasn't there.

The Dollar Store stocking stuffers were more gag than gift. I think that was the best thing about them. They made you laugh. Gifts can be so serious. When they are wadded up and stuffed in a sock and cost about a dollar, gifts must be more fun than fancy.

Here's what I'm looking for stuffed in my Christmas stocking this year:

Lots of those annual family Christmas letters. I love these missives of annual antics whether they be all brag and boast or pass the Kleenex clinchers. We all relate to story and story is the best vehicle to share our news and I say let the letters commence! One of the best ways folks can stay connected is through sharing our stories.

A good book on tape - free from the library. My wife has me hooked on this totally legal, hands free motor vehicle pass-time. We drove to Indianapolis and back last Saturday and the ride all but disappeared as we listened to some Nelson DeMille tale of intrigue and deception. Tell Santa that our favorite Delphi library could use some more cloak and dagger on tape. And get this - author Stephen King says you get credit as a reader for being a listener!

Bowers, lots of bowers. For those who don't know how to play the card game of euchre, and that pretty much includes me, bowers are those mysterious Jacks in the deck that sneak in right under the Jack of trump to take the card trick. Just to make matters more confusing for those of us who forget to bring our glasses, the bower is the same color as trump - but not the same suit.

At Thanksgiving my sisterin law Nadine turned her basement into a den of high rollers as she hosted what was billed as a Progressive Euchre Tournament. My score was low enough to allow the Indiana DMV to confiscate my license plate. "You call yourself a Hoosier but you can't play euchre?" So I need bowers from Santa but also a little bit of strategy.

The ultimate stocking stuffers would be all one's favorite things that have been discontinued by the manufacturer. I used to have favorite Jockey brand briefs. They're gone from the shelves. So too, gone but not forgotten, our favorite six-pack of Pepperidge Farm iced cupcakes. They had cream fillings - sigh. Lately my favorite Schick razor blade - the Tracer FX - has disappeared from store shelves. Santa, please!

One of Santa's elves struck early this year and got me a little portable DVD player. This gift was occasioned by my need to complete 20 hours of continuing education for my law license. So now I can have my oatmeal and antitrust lecture at the same time. I'm taking my contract's lecture with me on the treadmill this afternoon. There will be no chance of snoozing through that presentation.

So hooray for stocking stuffers and those little things in life that bring joy and a smile.

And now that I think of it, maybe the Jockey brand briefs are still available but the Pepperidge Farm cupcakes made them fit - well, differently.

Ho Ho.