My stepdaughter Melissa lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Jeremy. Melissa misses the New England Christmas, especially the Christmas stockings that we fill every year (and ship to LA when Melissa and Jeremy cannot get back east).

I always like finding funny and interesting and just plain bizarre goodies at all sorts of markets, including ethnic ones. Some of these things naturally end up credited to Santa Claus. After all, he fills stockings from all around the world, so why limit his treats to what comes from Hershey, PA?

In a recent blog post, Melissa mentioned that one of her favorite things about Christmas is "stocking stuffed to the brim with exotic candies from all over the world". I am glad she likes it! Here's some of what we scored on yesterday's expedition, and similar expeditions:

• Baza Market, in Newton Upper Falls, MA, (take Highland Ave east from Rte 128) source of that awesome dragon above, plus a great assortment of candies in colorful wrappers printed in Russian. I have no idea if Melissa is getting chocolate-covered herring, but it sure looks nice!
• Maria's Pastry in Boston's North End - the best marzipan fruits, great homemade panforte.
• Bahnan's Market and Ed Hyder's, both in Worcester. for middle-eastern treats including halvah, stuffed dates, nougat, pistachio treats, and different fillo pastries.
• Ha Tien Market in Worcester for quirky, colorful southeast Asian and Chinese sweets, moon cakes, and things made with red bean paste or Durian Fruit, among others. I love the Pennywort Drink!
• Baltic European Deli on Dorchester Ave in South Boston for Polish treats in colorful wrappers.

It's not too late to visit these or similar markets for unexpected treats! These are examples - there are many more ethnic markets all around Boston and Worcester, Portland, Burlington, Hartford, New Haven, Providence, New Bedford - wherever you are in New England, if there is an immigrant community there are probably some markets worth exploring for unexpected Christmas treats.