The Christmas Stocking

When I was a kid growing up in the 70s, my older sister (by two years) would always wake me and our youngest sister up in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve. The point was we'd "sneak" downstairs, sure that Santa had already come and gone, to quietly turn on the tree and be amazed at the mass of presents that had arrived. We'd ooh and ahh and maybe pinch a few presents before turning our attention to our stockings that would be lined up on the sofa. We didn't have a fireplace so it sufficed. Our stockings were usually filled with toiletries, candy and fun gadgets like Silly Putty or balsam airplane kits. Within probably less than a half hour, we'd place everything back in our stockings, turn off the tree and creep back upstairs to bed; a warm, wonderful memory of Christmas. And, admittedly, we continued the habit well after a certain truth was revealed to us. We just loved it so. Our oldest sister (seven years senior to me) wanted no part of it, though. She was too mature and therefore was labeled the Grinch. The origin of the Christmas stocking is quite murky. Exactly when did kids start hanging stockings for Santa to fill? I researched online and in a 1984 Reader's Digest book titled "A Family Christmas." Online, Smithsonian magazine had a brief piece and good old Wikipedia also helped me. Each one had slight variations on the history of Christmas stockings. The Reader's Digest book claims with "reasonable" certainty that the tradition originated in France at the beginning of the twelfth century. I'm not sure how they came to that conclusion since I didn't see any footnotes but if a more defined date is needed, it wouldn't be until 1823 when Clement Clarke Moore (or maybe Henry Livingston Jr.) wrote the poem, "A Visit From St. Nicholas" We know the poem as "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" but that's merely the first line. The poem ends when St. Nick "filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk, And laying his finger aside of his nose, And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose." The most popular version of the stocking origin involves a poor widower and his three daughters. Unable to make ends meet, the family was desperate. One version tells that the father was considering selling his daughters into prostitution. Others simply say that Dad was very, very worried as he and his beautiful daughters were too poor for them to be married. St. Nicholas was aware of the family's sad state of affairs but also knew the man was too proud for charity. It just so happened that the girls were drying their socks on the fireplace mantel and St. Nick threw gold coins down the chimney, with some of them landing in one of the stockings. Of course the family was overjoyed at this Christmas miracle. My dad told me many years ago that when he was a boy in Depression-era Arkansas, he and his siblings would each get an orange and a dime in their stockings. Initially I thought he was spinning a tale but later in life learned it was true. It turns out, oranges are traditional stocking stuffers from generations past. Exotic fruits like oranges were expensive so receiving one was a real treat. They were also symbolic. Some of those stocking origin stories tell that instead of coins, St. Nick dropped balls of gold down the chimney. Oranges are meant to represent them. Then there's the cookies and milk left for Santa ritual. Another very old legend might reveal where this began. A German/Scandinavian figure named Odin had a magical flying horse named Sleipnir and children would place their boots, filled with carrots, straw or sugar next to the fireplace for Sleipnir to eat and then Odin would reward them for their kindness by replacing the horse's food with gifts or candy. Perhaps the most important lesson to be learned from all these variations of how good old St. Nicholas leaves children goodies on Christmas Eve is that we must remember, he knows if you've been naughty or nice. A lump of coal could easily replace that beautiful orange.