December 14, 2012
The Legend of the Christmas Stocking
Christmas stockings made by a “Gentleman of German heritage,” 1950s.
“The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.”
– A Visit From Saint Nicholas
As far back as 1823, when Clement Clarke Moore (or possibly Henry Livingston Jr.) wrote “A Visit From Saint Nicholas,” stockings were hung near the fireplace, awaiting a visit from Santa Claus. At the end of the poem, St. Nick “fill’d all the stockings; then turn’d with a jerk,/And laying his finger aside of his nose/And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.”
Hanging stockings, 1954.
Stockings have been an essential part of the Christmas tradition for centuries (except, briefly, in the mid-1800s, when the New York Times wrote that Christmas trees almost completely supplanted them as the tradition of choice).
“He filled all the stockings –” Dec. 25, 1950.
Christmas stocking ad from a 1918 catalog
The most popular legend about why stockings are hung at Christmas goes something like this: A recently widowed man and father of three girls was having a tough time making ends meet. Even though his daughters were beautiful, he worried that their impoverished status would make it impossible for them to marry.
Vintage Christmas stockings, date unknown.
St. Nicholas was wandering through the town where the man lived and heard villagers discussing that family’s plight. He wanted to help but knew the man would refuse any kind of charity directly. Instead, one night, he slid down the chimney of the family’s house and filled the girls’ recently laundered stockings, which happened to be drying by the fire, with gold coins. And then he disappeared.
Stockings made from McCall’s patterns, 1976.
The girls awoke in the morning, overjoyed upon discovering the bounty. Because of St. Nick’s generosity, the daughters were now eligible to wed and their father could rest easy that they wouldn’t fall into lonely despair. Whew! While obviously far-fetched, this tale of unknown origin and date is most widely referenced when it comes to the history of the Christmas stocking.
“’My father took this photo of me on Christmas Eve 1921, when I was 3,’ explains Doris Tonry of Elyria, Ohio.”
For some, the ritual has translated into hanging a nondescript sock (the bigger, the better, of course) pulled from Dad’s drawer.
Vintage socks.
For others, it has meant a personalized, decorated, maybe even handmade, foot-shaped bag hung year after year.
Vintage stocking, 1950s.
And sometimes, it means not hanging the stocking by a fireplace at all!
Hanging Christmas stockings from rifles. Camp Lee, Virginia, 1941.
Whichever stocking set-up you prefer, there’s one more related factoid that’ll impress guests during your holiday party. Oranges tend to wind up in Christmas stockings, right? Ever wonder why? Some say it’s from a time when fresh fruit was more difficult to come by and finding an orange in your stocking was a huge treat. But a different version of that beautiful-daughters-distraught-father legend swaps the gold coins left by St. Nick with three gold balls left in each stocking. Understandably, the solid gold balls tradition isn’t so easy to replicate; that’s why their citrus look-alikes have found their way into stockings alongside tchotchkes and baubles, but hopefully not coal!
Dennison Manufacturing Co., Dealer’s Catalogue of Tags and Specialties, 1913-1914, Smithsonian Institution Libraries.
Man, woman, child with baby sock, stocking, and trouser sock hung by the chimney in the background, 1940s.
If you celebrate Christmas, what’s your stocking of choice? A tube sock, a silk stocking, the traditional red and white variety, or something else completely?
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Lovely article–but that’s not pantihose in the last photo; it’s probably a nylon stocking. Pantihose came out in the 70s.
Yes, true! It has been updated!
That photo that has “pantyhose” hung looks like it’s a bit too early for pantyhose – possibly a nylon stocking, but not pantyhose, which didn’t come into vogue until the late 1960s, I believe.
Yes, Kathy, you are correct. It’s been updated!
I’m writing from the UK. We had our mum’s old stockings. I think they were far better than all the modern, made-for-Christmas stockings. You could vaguely make out what things were and it was fantastically exciting, to sit there poking at it and wondering what was left, while your brother and sister had their turns at taking a present. (We always took it in turns.) We used to all sit in our parents’ bed (though dad usually went off to make a cup of tea) and there would be squeals of excitement, and blowing on those things that shoot out and make a noise (do you know what I mean? :D), and eating anything edible – and me with my head straight in a book – because, yes, you could even get a couple of books in there, along with a lot of other presents! Most of it came from charity shops, or sales, but to us it was absolute heaven. I’m crying as I write this. I used to get paper and pencils too, and those were the best Christmas presents of all.
All year round I hang the one my mom made for mi daughter!!
I still have mine and my brother’s felt stockings made around 1955 for us by my auntie. They’re very thick felt with cutouts and sequins on them, similar to the 1954 photo you show but much more elaborate. I hang them on the back of our front door.
Still have the felt stockings I made in the early 60′s with my husband and my names, also our dog.
When our two daughters came along they also received a felt stocking. The stockings were decorated with our names, Christmasy felt cutouts and lots of sequins and glitter.
My grandmother makes each member of the family their own personalized and decorated stocking, and they’re all amazingly elaborate. They’re become an integral part of our Christmas tradition.
My husband had one of those red and white stockings shown on page 4 and described as being of vintage ? he was born in 1944, if that helps