This centuries-old gift-giving ritual has taken many forms throughout the world . . . why not in your motorhome also?
By Juddi Morris
December 2014
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.
— Clement C. Moore
Have you ever wondered about the custom of hanging Christmas stockings? Who ever thought of loading presents into socks? It may seem like a strange place to put everything from harmonicas and wristwatches to candy canes, chocolates, cellphones, and perfume, but almost every country that celebrates Christmas has a variation of this stocking custom.
Legend says that the practice of hanging Christmas stockings came about when three young girls didn’t have sufficient dowries to marry, much to their poor father’s despair. After washing their threadbare stockings one night, the sisters hung them on the mantel to dry. While they were asleep, St. Nicholas heaved three small bags of gold down the chimney, which bounced into the stockings. (According to one theory, that is why oranges, which mimic the gold-filled bags, are sometimes placed in stockings.)
In the 12th century, French nuns began to leave goodies for poor families. Fruit, nuts, and sweets were placed in the stockings of the good sisters of the convent and left at the homes of the poor. The custom soon spread through Europe.
Today, in France and Holland, children still leave out slippers and shoes to be filled with presents by Pere Noel and Sinterklaas, respectively, on Christmas Eve. The Chinese hang special muslin stockings for Lam Khoong-Khoong (Nice Old Father) to stuff with treats. In Spain, Mexico, some places in South America, and Puerto Rico, where Christmas celebrations continue for days, it’s a custom for the Three Kings to bring gifts on January 6. Children fill their shoes with hay for the kings’ camels and place them on the windowsills. After the camels have munched the hay, the kings leave gifts in the shoes. In Italy, the night before January 6, a good witch, Befana, glides down the sooty chimney on a broom and fills stockings with presents. In England (as in the United States and Canada), kids hang stockings, but they place them at the ends of their beds.
An endearing Christmas stocking story is told about President Andrew Jackson. In 1835, Jackson’s wife’s niece and her four children, as well as Jackson’s adopted son and his two children, all lived in the White House. That year they participated in a grand holiday celebration with the president and his wife, which included delivering gifts to an orphanage. On Christmas Eve, President Jackson invited the children to hang their stockings on hooks attached to the mantel above the fireplace. The youngsters surprised the president and hung a stocking for him, too. He was delighted. He told them that he had waited nearly 70 years to have a Christmas stocking! The next morning, Jackson found a new pair of slippers, a corncob pipe, and a tobacco pouch.
Today, in some families, the stockings are looked at first. Others save them until all the packages are opened. But whether one’s tradition is to hang stockings by the fireplace, on a bedpost, on a chair, or even in a special spot in the motorhome, the surprise of opening a stocking bulging with goodies is an enjoyable way to start Christmas Day.
This year, you and your children or grandkids might play Santa Claus by filling a stocking for someone else — an adult or child — who may not receive any presents or extra treats. There’s joy in giving. It brings forth our finest nature and epitomizes the spirit of the holiday season. In fact, you may find that loading a stocking for someone else can be as much fun and just as exciting as it is to open your own Christmas stocking.
World’s Largest?
According to Guinness World Records, the largest Christmas stocking ever made measured 168 feet 5.65 inches long and 70 feet 11.57 inches wide (heel to toe). It was created in the Italian town of Carrara, Tuscany, in January 2011 by a volunteer emergency services organization, Pubblica Assistenza Carrara e Sezioni, during a charity fundraising event.