Christmas Stocking
By Joy J. Fine
Did you ever wonder why you hang a Christmas stocking on the wall, staircase or fireplace? This tradition has several possible origins. One story is told of a nobleman who lived with his three daughters after losing his wife to a terrible illness. Life became hard and they were barely able to make ends meet after he lost their money through one bad business idea after another. They moved to a small cottage. He was deeply saddened by the fact that he had no money for dowries for his three girls and feared that they would not be able to marry. Late one night after the girls had hung their clothing to dry, with their stockings placed on the fireplace, Saint Nicholas had reason to peek in their window. He was aware of their bad luck and so tossed a bag of gold down the chimney to land in a stocking belonging to each daughter. This enabled the girls to marry and their father lived the rest of his long life happy.
The beginning of using stockings in North American might be traced back to a writer and his illustrator who wrote a story at the end of the eighteen hundreds about a visit from Santa Claus where stockings hung from the fireplace mantle. Others claim it was the Dutch who brought the Christmas stocking to America in the sixteenth century. The story goes that children would leave their wooden clogs by the fireplace. These children’s shoes were filled with straw for Santa to give to his reindeer. As well, there would be a little something special left for Santa. To repay this kindness Santa, called Sinterclass at that time, would leave a treat in their shoes. Over time the shoes changed to socks.
A Christmas stocking is now hung for one of two reasons. Family traditions either say that the gifts that wind up in the stocking are those that Santa brought or they are stocking stuffers; extra small gifts given to children. An earlier tradition left a single piece of coal in the stocking for a child who had not been behaving.
Early stockings were simply the sock of a person that was hung during Christmas. But over the years special stockings were made solely for that purpose. As Christmas approaches the stores fill with a variety of Christmas stocking styles for all to enjoy. There is something for everyone. There can be tiny ones for the new baby or ones that hang to the floor. They can even be personalized with the names of everyone in the family. There are always things that are more popular to put into the Christmas stocking. These things can be anything from something simple like lip balms to chocolates, CDs or warm socks.
No longer are the stockings bought simply red felt with white trim though these are still available as well. Now they can be anything from hand sewn gingham to shades of greens and reds with characters on the fronts. It is easy to find a Christmas stocking with snowmen, Santas, angels, Christmas trees or reindeer for decoration. For those who have pets there are even stockings made for them. These are usually made from netting and filled with treats aimed at the pet of choice and can be bought at your local pet store. No member of the family needs to forgotten when Christmas comes.
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