The Origin of the Christmas Stocking

This is the story about how because one father couldn't pay for his daughter's wedding, we get stockings filled with goodies on Christmas Day.

According to legend, hanging stockings comes from the story of a poor and widowed Holland man who couldn't afford to pay marriage dowries for his three daughters. After the gift giver known as Ol' Saint Nick heard of the man's predicament, he dropped a bag of gold down the family's chimney one night so the eldest could wed, but it landed inside a sock that was drying over the fire!

SOURCES: Smithsonian Institute; Good Housekeeping

More from SoJO 104.9