Stocking Stuffers: Tradition and Last-Minute Ideas

Christmas stockings are a cherished tradition. They’re hung on fireplace mantles, stair banisters or the foot of the bed.

Some are handmade, store-bought or treasured heirlooms.

Regardless of where you hang your stockings or what they look like, they’re an integral part of Christmas for many families.

What you may not know is how the tradition started and where they came from.

At the bottom of the article, you’ll find suggestions for filling your stockings to the tippity-top for both kids and kids at heart.

What Is the Origin Story of the Christmas Stocking?

Legend has it that a 4th-century nobleman was a widower with three daughters and could not afford their dowries. Hearing of this father’s dilemma, Saint Nicholas secretly tossed three gold spheres down the man’s chimney because he knew the man would not accept any charity. The gold spheres ended up in the daughters’ stockings, which were hanging above the fireplace to dry.

With the gold, the daughters were now eligible to marry and the father was so overjoyed, he eventually found out who had left the gold and told everyone about Nicholas.

While this far-fetched tale is difficult to believe, it is widely accepted as the origin story for the humble Christmas stocking.

When Did We Begin Hanging Up Stockings?

In 1809, the Knickerbocker History of New York was written by Washington Irving in which he detailed the custom of hanging up stockings “in the chimney on St. Nicholas Eve,” along with finding them in the morning having been “miraculously filled.”

In 1823, Clement Clark Moore wrote the poem, The Night Before Christmas, in which the famous line, “the stockings were hung by the chimney with care” is written.

An 1883 article in the New York Times detailed issues with Christmas stockings of the time and how they were almost done away with completely in favor of the German Christmas trees, which allowed families to put as many or as few presents as they could afford underneath.

“The New England stocking, though admirably adapted for holding presents like paper cutters or knitting needles did not have sufficient room for the ordinary Christmas presents of even an economical home,” it reads. “On the other hand, the tonnage of the Western stocking – especially that of the Chicago type, was so great that it could not be filled except at a cost which few fathers of families could afford.”

They also took issue with the limp, unattractive appearance of the long, woolen stockings.

It wasn’t until the introduction of decorated stockings whereby the designs and colors made them a thing of beauty, that people were happy to display them in their homes.

The “Smith Christmas Stocking” was then invented to address all these issues. Unlike the New England stocking and the Chicago stocking, this elastic stocking was specially designed to fit Christmas gifts of all budgets.

The inventor also fashioned it with a “water-tight metallic compartment” in the toe of the boot for things like molasses candy and other perishables.

By the end of the 19th century, bright red felt stockings as we know them now began to be hung by the fire.

Why Do Some People Put Oranges in Their Stockings?