Christmas Socks

“The hopeful children each hung an old stocking from the rough sawn oak mantle. ‘Pick the biggest sock you can find,’ one of the older boys encouraged a younger sister. ‘Remember, the bigger it is the more stuff you’ll get,’ he added. Then, as the last sock hung in place, the children stepped back to take in the full picture. The worn socks told a story. They were play socks, well worn, not the leggings of a wealthy family. They spoke of good times together, a carefree life, and the absence of shoes. One might have pitied their owners as poor if the message they spoke was not so warm. The parents, aware of the time, ushered their children off to bed. ‘The faster we get to sleep, the faster morning will come,’ a little boy shouted as he ran, and the others followed.

Then in the morning, the most wonderful surprise greeted the children. Instead of the worn hand-me-down socks they had tacked to the mantle the night before, they found the most beautiful embroidered Christmas stockings and each was filled with presents and chocolates.”

As I finished the story, my children’s eyes lit up with wonder as they hung their own worn socks on our fireplace mantle. They too had picked the largest socks they owned and now wondered just how many things Lois and I would be able to cram inside their footwear. “Off to bed” I ordered and my six children ran, eager to awake the next morning.

After all threat of their reappearing had past, Lois and I took down their worn socks and replaced them with beautifully embroidered and monogrammed stockings purchased for each one by their grandmother. We stuffed them full with presents and chocolates and then head off to bed ourselves, hoping to fall asleep fast that we might speed the arrival of morning ourselves. Little did our children suspect the entire story was a setup foreshadowing the merry surprise to come.

The Christmas morning shock, amazement, and surprise lives on as one of our fondest Christmas memories. Since that Christmas, grandma has since gone to be with the Lord, but those embroidered stockings get hung every year and greet each of our children filled with small gifts and goodies on Christmas morning.