December 18, 2018

​Christmas Stockings
 
I do not know when or where the tradition of hanging Christmas stockings started, but I have a Christmas stocking memory that I received over fifty years ago.
 
As we woke up on Christmas morning, having hung our stockings above the fireplace on Christmas Eve, I will never forget the happy expression on my three-year-old daughter’s face. She was very excited as she removed the items one by one. There were a few trinkets from the dime store, oranges, walnuts and a candy bar or two. Nothing extraordinary or expensive! What I remember most was my daughter saying, “My, wasn’t Santa good to me!”
 
We emptied our stockings before going into the living room, where under the Christmas tree was a shiny new tricycle, a small table and chair with tea set, a baby doll and other gifts too numerous to name. A bounty of presents, yet she would have been perfectly happy with her Christmas stocking. There must be a message in there somewhere!
 
Gone are the gifts I received from my boyhood; the little red wagon, the set of small lead soldiers, the BB gun, roller skates, the Western Flyer bicycle. I’ve received many other gifts throughout my lifetime but best of all are the memories which are everlasting.
Every Christmas I remember how excited my daughter was while opening her Christmas stocking and I find myself saying, “My, wasn’t God good to me!”
 
God bless you and may your Christmas stocking overflow with happiness and joy!
 
Charlie Johnson