I,along with a least a million other people in this world,hang up my Christmas stocking every year. I have done so all my life,yet I had no idea why this was. I googled it ! Turns out no one really knows where or how this tradition started and several myths exist. I like the one that says an old man had three daughters. He had no money for their dowries. This worried him greatly and St. Nicholas heard of his plight. St. Nicholas then entered the old mans house by coming down the chimney. Three socks were near the fireplace drying. He placed bags of gold in each sock. The old man finding the gold was eventually able to marry his three daughters off and they all lived happily ever after. Sounds reasonable enough to me. I'm going with that story.
As a child I kept the same stocking year after year. We all did in my family. It had stains on it and a hole or two but that didn't matter. I don't know what happened to it in later years. I imagine it went to the landfill. I'm sure when Mom and Dad moved to Florida and emptied out the house they didn't give it a thought. Just an old Christmas stocking,after all. There are many things like that,gone forever. Well you can't save everything.
I could count on a big fresh orange in the toe of that stocking each Christmas morning. That is one of my Moms' traditions. I asked her about that. My Mom told me when she was little oranges were only available in the local market during the winter months. They were also fairly expensive. This was because refrigerated trucks and train cars were not commonly used . They were costly and difficult to " import " all the way from Florida. As a result, an Orange was a special treat. I sporadically carried on this tradition and in the last ten years it has died altogether. Relegated to memory and tales of yore status.
Now my Dads'stocking usually had two items. A can of Schaefer beer in the toe and a carton of Pall Mall cigarettes. That was tradition. He didn't get an orange.
Other items almost always found in your stocking would be,mixed nuts,a candy cane,pens,pencils,maybe a Pez dispenser and small gifts both wrapped and unwrapped. We were required to look in our stockings first. No opening the gifts under the tree until the stockings had been emptied. That was a Christmas rule.
My wife and I have our stockings each year. They are the same ones we have had for many years now. We set them out more for decoration than anything else. Seldom do we fill them with anything. That stopped when the boys left home. I don't have any great sentimental attachment to mine. I wish I did have the one I had as a child,that would be cool.
With the Grand kids my wife has crocheted little stockings for them to give out to their classmates every year. It has become a tradition. This tradition can not last. Mark is in the fifth grade and doesn't want to do it this year. Getting to grown up for that. My wife understands but you hate to see that tradition end. Still have Morgan for at least another year or two. I'm a big fan of these little stockings,each one crocheted by hand and unique. We have them on our Christmas tree almost every year. We have skipped a year here and there but those little stockings were hung somewhere in the house. There are a few hundred in and around Greensboro if the other children saved them and that estimate is conservative. I wonder about that every year. Surely some of the parents have put them away as mementos for their children. It is a comforting thought anyway. And I'm not doing the work.
Those little stockings have taken the place of my childhood Christmas stocking. I don't have any one special one that is mine. I want them out very year. I love seeing them. They have come to mean Christmas to me. They make people smile. I'm positive they will always be a Christmas memory to the kids. One day they may sit and tell tales of Christmas past to their own grand children. I'm hoping these little stockings Grandma has made will be included and indeed I'm hoping they will be present. May they hang on the Christmas tree for generations to come. Each one was crafted with love ! Don't get much more Christmas than that !
As a child I kept the same stocking year after year. We all did in my family. It had stains on it and a hole or two but that didn't matter. I don't know what happened to it in later years. I imagine it went to the landfill. I'm sure when Mom and Dad moved to Florida and emptied out the house they didn't give it a thought. Just an old Christmas stocking,after all. There are many things like that,gone forever. Well you can't save everything.
I could count on a big fresh orange in the toe of that stocking each Christmas morning. That is one of my Moms' traditions. I asked her about that. My Mom told me when she was little oranges were only available in the local market during the winter months. They were also fairly expensive. This was because refrigerated trucks and train cars were not commonly used . They were costly and difficult to " import " all the way from Florida. As a result, an Orange was a special treat. I sporadically carried on this tradition and in the last ten years it has died altogether. Relegated to memory and tales of yore status.
Now my Dads'stocking usually had two items. A can of Schaefer beer in the toe and a carton of Pall Mall cigarettes. That was tradition. He didn't get an orange.
Other items almost always found in your stocking would be,mixed nuts,a candy cane,pens,pencils,maybe a Pez dispenser and small gifts both wrapped and unwrapped. We were required to look in our stockings first. No opening the gifts under the tree until the stockings had been emptied. That was a Christmas rule.
My wife and I have our stockings each year. They are the same ones we have had for many years now. We set them out more for decoration than anything else. Seldom do we fill them with anything. That stopped when the boys left home. I don't have any great sentimental attachment to mine. I wish I did have the one I had as a child,that would be cool.
With the Grand kids my wife has crocheted little stockings for them to give out to their classmates every year. It has become a tradition. This tradition can not last. Mark is in the fifth grade and doesn't want to do it this year. Getting to grown up for that. My wife understands but you hate to see that tradition end. Still have Morgan for at least another year or two. I'm a big fan of these little stockings,each one crocheted by hand and unique. We have them on our Christmas tree almost every year. We have skipped a year here and there but those little stockings were hung somewhere in the house. There are a few hundred in and around Greensboro if the other children saved them and that estimate is conservative. I wonder about that every year. Surely some of the parents have put them away as mementos for their children. It is a comforting thought anyway. And I'm not doing the work.
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| Mrs Claus is holding a stocking and others are in the works ! |
It is a wonderful tradition & I'm glad to think of your wife crocheting all those little stockings for the kids! As for our childhood stockings, mine,too, is lost. :-( There is something sweet in the remembrance of those old socks stuffed with tiny, inexpensive things...the orange probably being the most expensive back in that day. Thanks for the memories.
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