What's the Christmas stocking tradition?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"HOLIDAY STOCKINGS" PLEASE.

Sorry, but they are actually Saint Nicholas stockings and Santa Claus is a corruption of the name Saint Nicholas. So they are actually Saint Nicholas or Santa Claus stockings. They are based on an old Dutch custom of leaving wooden shoes out for Saint Nicholas on December 6. Saint Nick would put coal in the shoes of bad children and sweets into the shoes of good children. When wooden shoes were replaced by leather shoes, children would hang their stockings at the fireplace to dry. Saint Nicholas would then deposit coal or sweets into the stockings.

If you want HOLIDAY STOCKINGS, create your own tradition and leave Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus alone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We celebrate Christmas but have never had stockings. Obviously I get that you fill them with small things, but when do you open? How does it work in relation to the actual Christmas gifts? Just an additional thing to look through or does it happen at a different time? What's your tradition?

Getting back to the topic, our family fills stocking with chestnuts, christmas sweets and mandarins, plus a few little nicknacks. We open them after the big presents.

[Anonymous]

We do small USEFUL items in the stockings. Ex: Flavored lip balm and athletic tape for my younger DD, a 5Below stylus and car phone charger for my older DD, colored pens and a Moleskine for me, altoids and golf balls for my partner. I add a couple oranges because those are traditional.

Stockings go up empty on Christmas Eve. They are filled after DDs go to bed. They can be pillaged any time after dawn. They come down New Year's Day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are Italian and stockings get filled on Epiphany. I like this tradition since we usually travel for Christmas, so there is one celebration that happens at home.

We're part Cuban. The three kings bring gifts on Epiphany, but they never get a chance to put them in our stockings. I take those down 1/1. My kids look for the trail of hay from the camels. At the end is a little pile of gifts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"HOLIDAY STOCKINGS" PLEASE.

Are you the "HOLIDAY TREE" poster as well?

Just stop.

Some things are Christmas traditions. Just like somethings are Hanukah traditions or Diwali, etc. it doesn't matter if the person is not of that religious background. The thing they are doing is. There are Hanukah candles not "HOLIDAY CANDLES"

[Anonymous]

I'm surprised this hasn't been asked yet, but how do you celebrate Christmas but know nothing about stockings? Did you come from a different country that had absolutely no stocking-tradition?

[Anonymous]

I grew up with Stockings first while parents get their coffee. Then everyone moved to the room with the tree and open gifts one at a time in order of youngest to oldest. My kids are too young right now to do anything other than tear into gifts right away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up with Stockings first while parents get their coffee. Then everyone moved to the room with the tree and open gifts one at a time in order of youngest to oldest. My kids are too young right now to do anything other than tear into gifts right away.

Also, stockings could be anything from Chapstick to an ornament to batteries for a gift under the tree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is OP and I'm amazed that there are children who are sitting down to eat a breakfast before opening up Christmas gifts! There is no way my kids could do that calmly, even with a stocking. They are excitedly flying down the stairs to the tree the second their eyes open.

?

How would they know any different if this is what it always has been for them?

Mine know we don't open any presents until everyone is up but stockings are free for alls.

Stockings get filled by Santa so not until Xmas eve.

Everyone gets a chocolate orange, some kind of candy cane (a super nice one) 1 small present (like a dvd) and other other fun/useful stuff. Nice socks or mittens or games or books or small toys.

[Anonymous]

I love stockings! In my family growing up, we each had a knit stocking with our name on it with a character, like Santa, an angel, a reindeer, or a snowman. Our Santa presents were left unwrapped on chairs, so that was always what we did first. As kids I think we did stockings next because we couldn't stand the excitement, but now that we're adults we take a break after the kid's Santa gifts for breakfast and come back to open presents under the tree. Stockings can be opened any time there is a lull and someone suggests it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"HOLIDAY STOCKINGS" PLEASE.

Are you the "HOLIDAY TREE" poster as well?

Just stop.

Some things are Christmas traditions. Just like somethings are Hanukah traditions or Diwali, etc. it doesn't matter if the person is not of that religious background. The thing they are doing is. There are Hanukah candles not "HOLIDAY CANDLES"

I read the "holiday stockings" post as a joke.

[Anonymous]

My kids love the stocking and ooh and ahh over all the junk in there (candy, ornaments, lipstick, fun pens, stickers, rubber balls, note pads, fake nails, etc). We drink coffee during this (and video-record), and then we all start opening presents. We eat breakfast afterward.

[Anonymous]

Do people wrap presents in stocking?

[Anonymous]

Growing up our stockings always had fruit and candy in them. I was always jealous of people who got toys in their stockings!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do people wrap presents in stocking?

We do, just because it slows them down and increases the suspense a bit.