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Yes, that’s a chemise on my cover. And yes, I had to raid my historical Barbie dolls to get a miniature stocking and drawers.
The funny thing about it is–hanging stockings wasn’t a custom during the Regency. Not in England. Our image of English Christmases is based on Victorian England, not Regency England. The customs we’re most familiar with–stockings, Christmas trees, Santa Claus–came from the Dutch and the Germans. Some of them came from there to England, but some of them went straight to America, and only THEN back to England. Hanging stockings only became popular in England after “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” and other works about the “foreign” customs became well-known. In fact, my book centers around Clement Moore’s poem, which was published four years before my book is set. In other words, I cheated. I had an entire English village reading the poem (sent to them by an American) and trying out the custom. They even sell Christmas stockings at a fair to raise money for charity. Hey, it could have happened! Besides, there are mentions of the foreign “customs” in the British Gentleman’s Magazine in 1827, too, which is good enough for me!
In my family, we have special stockings that we hang, all of which were made for each individual by my sister, who needlepointed every one of them and included our names at the top. I love those stockings. They’re always an important part of my Christmas.
So do y’all use special stockings? Or do you do different ones every year? Is there any special stocking stuffer you always include?
68 Comments on “Will and Jane Hang Stockings”
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My sons had the same stockings until we moved to Oregon and they were stolen with a tote of special Christmas decorations, including a 14″ Santa with bag of toys a friend gave me years ago. We all have special stockings again, some I made some came from other people. The g-girls got their stockings from their parents one their first Christmas’. Things in the stockings vary from year to year, except the fruit in the toe. We shop for the perfect apple or orange depending on whose stocking it will go into. My oldest son had to have an apple and his brother had to have an orange. Each little toy is individually wrapped in the special Santa paper that is also on the gifts from Santa. That paper is not used on any other gifts,Santa does not lend out his paper.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:20 am.
Every time I hear of someone being robbed of Christmas presents or items, it appalls me. Christmas stuff should be sacred!
I OUGHT to put fruit in the stocking. It would be healthier than chocolate.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:45 am.
They get the chocolate as well and a giant candy cane but the fruit is a must, it has been a tradition in our family forever.
I grieved the lost ornaments because some were from my childhood. But I didn’t lose the ones my sons had made for me, so I survived.You are right, Christmas stuff should be totally off limits but it isn’t. We lost three totes of lights and six trees we put in our front yard a few years back. We know who that was just can’t prove it.Our forest will be back up to speed with three more deer grazing in the yard as well.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:23 pm.
I want to make some stockings for New Guy, Acheron, Biscuit and myself. Last night before going to see Skyfall, New Guy and I got some kitty toys for the cats but I am going to have to give them to Biscuit because Acheron doesn’t like cat toys as a rule – he is more into kitty treats of the food variety. I also want to get a few more stocking stuffers for my niece and nephew. For my niece it will be make up because this child can do darn amazing make up for an 8 year old. My nephew however could end up with Skylanders because he is currently going through that phase which is fine by me because both New Guy and I are in that phase as well. I am not sure what to put into a stocking for New Guy because stuff that he is after won’t fit into a stocking. Oh well, I guess I can figure something out even if it is sort of gag gift certificates for stuff like hugs, massages, hair washings and the like . . .
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:46 am.
What’s a Skylander?
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:46 am.
It’s a figurine that is part of a video game. There’s a little chip or something in the figurine that stores the data of that particular character and can be used on any portal which can only be used with specific gaming systems
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:54 am.
Cool!
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:39 pm.
We always hang stockings! Every Christmas, my friends and I work at our museum as actors in a Christmas themed victorian play. It is always entertaining to try to remember which customs are 1876 appro and which are not. Last night at a performance one of my people in my group told me she had artificial knees. I had fun wondering how on earth that could have happened. My character is always thrilled to get an orange, which is actually a tradition that my grandmother continued well into this century by putting a clementine in our stockings at christmas. We also get spoons, socks and twine every year.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 8:18 am.
It’s funny, but oranges were a much bigger deal in earlier centuries. There were really as much a special item as chocolate would be now. I mean, that’s what they sold at the theater.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:52 am.
I didn’t know that about Christmas traditions coming from Germany to here to England. Interesting.
We have special stockings but always the same ones. The boys have Packer and Brewer stockings and they still argue over whose is whose.
As for stuffers, I always get them their favorite candies and then whatever I can find that stuffs in. This year I found funny caricatured boxers shorts.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 8:34 am.
Well, I should clarify–the tree custom came to England from Germany through the Hanover kings. BUT a lot of the other customs–Santa, hanging stockings–came from America, where they had originated with Dutch and German immigrants. The English originally only did stuff like Yule logs, Christmas feasts, and hanging greenery in the house (and mistletoe–good old Druid custom).
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:55 am.
Growing up, my cousin, who is older and more like an aunt, made my stocking. It came out every year, and there was always an orange in the toe. An orange is very important, as my grandma’s first Christmas present was an orange rattle (that would be Christmas 1915), which some member of the family still has, but I can’t remember who. Anyway, I didn’t do stockings until we had our daughter. Then I had my friend make three matching stockings. Then Son came along. There wasn’t enough material left over from the other stockings to make a matching one, but there was enough to make a smaller one. Now we fight over who gets the small sock.
Bubble bath is very important. I always put bubble bath in the kids’ stockings because they love it. I’d already have it ordered, but my Avon lady is out of town this week.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:06 am.
LOL about their fighting over the small stocking! Fortunately, my sister used a kit to needlepoint the stockings, so she can always just buy another one and make one when we add to families. Although I think my siblings and I are done adding. I hope! We’re now into the children of our children, or at least the first one of those.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:02 am.
Where I live in Flanders, we did not do anything special for Christmas – this has only changed recently, when everything from the USA is being followed here.
Santa Claus is not only from Holland, but is also popular in Belgium. He’s called Sinterklaas here, and actually the Good Holy Man doesn’t come with Christmas, but on December 6th.
The custom moved to New York when it was still called New Amsterdam and one of the suburbs Hoboken, after Hoboken near Antwerp. Most shipbuilders came from Flanders. You’ll also find lots of words with Flemish or Dutch origin in your language, especially when shipping is concerned.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:20 am.
I’m actually doing some stuff regarding Belgium right now, so I know a bit about its history. That’s how I know about the customs. Belgium was actually part of the Netherlands during the period of my book, but that changed in 1830.
Did y’all not do anything with Sinterklaas in Flanders when you were young?
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:05 am.
No Sabrina, as in Flanders it depends upon the region where Sinterklaas is celebrated and where Sint Maarten. We live in a region where Sint Maarten comes (on November 11th) and brings candy (chocolates and ‘speculaas’ – a sort of gingerbread) and toys to those children who are good.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:45 pm.
Btw, feel free to contact me if you need to know anything special about my country. I’m always willing to share what I know and I’ve lived here all of my life.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:46 pm.
Thanks! I will definitely keep that in mind.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:40 pm.
Growing up we always used the same stockings. Mine was a knitted stocking of red, green and white that my aunt made when I was born. My sister had a red and white fluffy stocking with her name in glitter at the top. I remember being envious of the glitter on her stocking. Mine seemed so plan compared to that. I didn’t take my stocking when I moved out, my mom kept them and still hangs them.
We had special stockings made when each of our kids were born, and I recently bought one for our puppy. The kids insisted that she have one as well.
I usually just look for little things to fill the stockings. My oldest daughter loves the Lindor chocolates, so she usually gets a package of those, and youngest loves smarties, so she gets those. This year I found some cute lip gloss that are made to look like chocolates. I think my oldest will love them.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:22 am.
There are ALWAYS chocolates in my stockings. Always. But then, my family loves chocolate.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:06 am.
My M-I-L made all of our stockings and hand quilted them. They are lovely. They hang by the chimney with care each and every year. Silly things go into them: new toothbrushes, socks/underwear, an iTunes card. They also receive Lindor Truffles from Santa.
Thanks for a new Will and Jane! That Will and his festive decorating.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:26 am.
Those sound beautiful!
Yes, you know Will–he’s all about the underwear.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:06 am.
We hang special stockings though nowhere near as lovely and special as yours!
I have to include Lifesaver Storybooks, which were also in my stockings as long as I can remember.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 9:52 am.
I forgot about those! We got those a time or two as a kid, too.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:07 am.
I wish someone in my family would make me some special stockings! Sadly I can’t see anyone taking the time to do it, myself included. I will stick to the same ones we use every year. They are nothing special, the traditional red and white. We use ours more for decoration though. Usually the stocking stuffers end up being too big so we will use the festive bag instead. Some items usually found are various nuts, clothes, snowglobes, etc. Maybe now you see why the stocking is not big enough!
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:05 am.
Aww, Kelly, you deserve a special stocking! You ought to go hunt the sales after Christmas. Sometimes you can find really gorgeous ones for cheap.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:08 am.
We had special stockings when we were younger, but Santa kept getting confused on who’s stocking belonged to whom….(too many kids, and a very late night, I’m sure. It also could have been the Crown Royal that we left for Santa….). So it ended up being musical stockings every Christmas morning.
We always had precious moment ornaments in the stockings, and a couple decades of that with 5 kids….we have one whole tree ONLY for those ornaments.
We don’t do this much anymore, which is sad, but now that we have short people again in the family–we might have to bring it back.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:50 am.
That’s why I’m very glad Sis needlepointed our names on them. Otherwise, we’d never be able to distinguish them!
I have one Precious Moment ornament, but that’s it.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:09 am.
Our stockings aren’t particularly special, but I had always wanted a special one. When I was little I had a pretty pink stocking that I loved, but as we got older my mom kept changing them out for different ones. I was disappointed to find out that she had given away my favourite stocking to charity, as I had used it since my very first Christmas. When my now husband and I started celebrating Christmas together, we went out and bought our stockings and haven’t changed them since (for 10 years). Our sons have knitted stockings that we bought at the store. While at my mom’s, every year we see different stockings, I have no intention of switching it up. I like traditions, so in my mind, once you have a stocking, it’s yours forever.
I usually stick a couple of small gifts into the stockings so the kids will have something to open first. Growing up we were allowed to open our stockings without my mom around (she was getting her coffee), but when it came to opening gifts she had to be there. I didn’t like going to my aunt’s for Christmas because she made my brothers and I, and all our cousins wait until after breakfast to open anything, including our stockings! *gasp!* So I try to keep the stockings interesting for my little ones, so my husband and I can get our morning coffee before the kids tear into the presents under the tree.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:41 am.
I agree–it’s nice to have the same stocking every year, as long as it’s special some way.
When I was a kid, we weren’t allowed to open anything until Mom and Dad got up, but they didn’t make us wait for breakfast. That’s just cruel!
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:13 pm.
Agreed! For the couple of years that we went to my aunt’s we would take one bite of breakfast and claim to be full. I’m so glad that my mom never did that. She would bring out mandarine oranges and some Baby Bel cheese wheels so we could snack while we opened gifts. She was always a good sport about letting us wake up at the crack of dawn and tear into our stockings.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:39 pm.
We use the same stockings every year, but they’re not handmade, alas. I feel very guilty about that, as I am crafty. There’s always a little candy and a book among other small things. Love your little cartoon!
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:56 am.
Thanks, Christie! I’m up to about 35 of the Will and Jane comics. They’re all on my site at http://www.sabrinajeffries.com/category/will-and-jane/
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:19 pm.
My mother made my brother and I stockings when we were kids. They match and have our names embroidered on them. I thought I had lost it for a long time until I started cleaning out the storage rooms here a few years ago. It was buried in a random box. I started crying when I found it and it has been hung every year since. A lovely friend of mine has made it her mission to fill it with little goodies every Christmas – which makes me smile.
This year, I found my brother’s. He doesn’t know it yet, but it will be sent to him along with his Christmas goodies. I hope he’s as thrilled about it as I was.
My mother would always put an orange and nuts in our stockings – and a bit of Almond Roca. There would be other fun things as well, but those are what I remember most – mostly because we always asked wwwhhhyyyyyyy she had to put fruit and nuts in our stockings.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:58 am.
Aw, I’m so glad you found yours!! I would be very upset if mine went missing. And I LOVE Almond Roca.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:20 pm.
We always have had stocking, but they are fun ones. Mine is Ruldolph – it’s basically a bag made of fabric then it has arms and legs sewn on as well as a head. I don’t know where my dh found it but I’ve never seen another like it. His is a Santa and when the kids came along, they have matching stuffed animal ones that light up and play music.
When we built our fireplace, I bought nice ones from Bed Bath and Beyond that have our initials on them. They don’t get stuffed – they’re just for show.
We try to find unique stocking stuffer every year and try to outdo each other. But the one thing we always have is PEZ dispensers included.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:04 pm.
A Rudolph stocking! How cool is that? And I love that you include PEZ dispensers. Are they any particular kind or just random ones?
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:21 pm.
I hang the stockings every year although they go on the wall since I don’t have a fireplace. The only one handmade is mine. My dad actually is the one who made it for me out of felt and he cut out angels and trees with glitter and glued them on. Nothing goes in that stocking since it’s getting a little fragile and has a few small holes in it but it still has it’s place of honor with the others.
The things that I always put in the kids stockings….toothbrushes, chapstick and gift cards. Candy goes in occasionally along with small lotions or whatever else strikes the mood when I’m shopping
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:21 pm.
I still have my childhood stocking, but it’s pretty beat up, so I only hang it up for show.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:25 pm.
we all have our own special stockings, but we’ve found that they are not nearly big enough andd there’s always things piled up around them!
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:51 pm.
We have that problem, too!
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:26 pm.
We use the same stockings every year. They’re nice ones, velvet, but the only distinguishing point is the color. Except for the Babe, one common factor is usually an iTunes gift card. This year, we might get one from Amazon as well. I’ve tried to get the girls to put some of the things in the stockings we had as kids, such as an orange and an apple, but they only do the candy canes that Leia loves. She doesn’t get much candy, so they last a while. I did have the girls’ stockings from when they were little, but they disappeared in a move.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 12:53 pm.
A LOT of my childhood stuff disappeared in a move. We moved a lot!
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:37 pm.
No stockings for me. My santa hat has ” Bah, humbug” written on it
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:20 pm.
LOL! My husband likes the stockings and the tree and nothing else. He thinks my excess is insane! He’s kind of “bah, humbug,” too.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:37 pm.
We used to hang stockings when growing up… then my one sister had her first child and our mom tried to get out of doing for us –we were in our 20′s… HA! Santa still comes! However, after she built a new house, we changed from stockings to presents at the breakfast table.. whereever you sat on Christmas Eve, that was your place for breakfast… lots of wrapped little soaps, gadgets, candy, do-dads, etc..
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:26 pm.
Oh, that sounds lovely!
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:38 pm.
Very interesting! I know that Christmas wasn’t really celebrated in the US until the 1850s. The Puritans actively discouraged celebrating Christmas because no one knows when Jesus was born, but more importantly, because the 25th used to be the Saturnalia. I think Christmas was even banned for a time in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
We use stockings that I made a couple of years ago. I was going through a phase of making TONS of stockings. One of my girlfriends makes new stockings every year. IDK how she does it because she’s a grad student in English Lit and teaching classes.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:50 pm.
Unlike my mom’s tradition, there’s never new underwear in the stockings. There’s some candy, chapstick, bath fizzies, and any cute things that I find in the dollar bins when I’m out shopping.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 1:52 pm.
Actually, it was celebrated the U.S. in some parts before then. It just depended on where you lived and which culture you were from.
How cool that you make stockings!
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:41 pm.
we had specific xmas socks (red velvet w/ white fur trim that had our names in glitter on it). my brother always got an orange in his, I got an apple in mine (as we got older socks & undies also often found their way in there), dad got shaving cream. Mom never had one since she was in charge of them. When I in high school I thought that wasn’t quite right so I took a small sock that had been tied onto mine & put it under the tree for her with some perfume & candy or such it. From then on, Santa started to visit mom each year as well as the rest of us
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 2:22 pm.
When my parents come to visit, I always do stockings for them. I want them to have one!
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:42 pm.
my sis commandeers mine as soon as I walk in the door for my Christmas visit. she fills ours with Halloween chocolate, lindt, sour patch kids and skittles. when we were kids, our mom filled them with an orange or apple in the toe (depending on our likes)candy cames, and little toys.
I do remember one yr in the late 70s, we used those kinky toe socks.
My sis’s family all have the same ones they use, but mine got lost in so many moves growing and I now use the last one my late mom made me when I was 30.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:12 pm.
I bet the toe socks made cool stocking!
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:43 pm.
My sister and I go shopping every year around this time…just for stocking stuffers! We try to make them original, funny and useful all at the same time. And they have to be small. But sometimes we fill stockings so full we have to have a bit of clothesline (does anybody know what that is anymore?) or yard leading down from the stockings to the hearth so that the gifts can continue being stuffed…This has ended up being more fun than the actual gifts under the tree!
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 3:55 pm.
That sounds like a perfect solution to the problem …. and better than OUR solution, which is to put the stockings on the floor with their overflow.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 4:38 pm.
I truly adore Will and Jane! We use the same stocking every year. I have had them handed down to me from when I was young. The dog even has one. They each get a massive orange in the toe and then some gifts from the squirrel (chocolate covered nuts). The the usual toothpaste, deodorant, nice smelling soaps, shampoo, and usually a funny little game and a paperback book. I love stocking gifts more than the big gifts. :O)
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 5:19 pm.
I’m glad you enjoy Will and Jane!
I too enjoy my stocking gifts more, usually because my regular are things I know I’m getting whereas the stocking gifts are surprises.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 6:04 pm.
Will and Jane are SO MUCH FUN!! And Twas the Night After Christmas is a wonderful book! I’ve already read and enjoyed it once and I intend to read it again now that the holidays are here. It is such a fun, sexy, romantic story!
We hang our stockings at my Mom’s house as that is where we spend Christmas. We have all had the same stockings for ages – since we were children. And we always have to have an apple, an orange, nuts and Cadbury’s chocolate in them.
My dogs and cats have their own stockings and I fill them with toys and treats. My Mom always sends treats for them as well.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 6:02 pm.
Aw, Louisa, thanks for telling me. I’m so glad you enjoyed the book!
That’s sweet of your mom to send treats for the pets. Only my sister has pets in our family (the rest of us either travel too much or have family members who can’t tolerate pets), but I’m sure she’ll have plenty of treats for hers!
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 6:05 pm.
Up until the floods of Irene, I used the same stocking for all of my years. Now I have a fancy schmantzy new one.
The old one was stretched out and had more room though.
I like my stocking stuffers more than the actual gifts these days.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 6:21 pm.
Sorry to hear that you lost your old stocking. I would hate that!
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:09 pm.
My grandfather was a mining engineer, so my dad and aunt only had an orange at Christmas. This was why we always had fruit in our stocking. My mother made each of us a stocking with our name on it. These stockings were red velvet and quite large. It took 1/2 lb of nuts, an orange and an apple to just fill the foot! My dad also distributed Halloween candy that he stored in the freezer in a broccoli bag! we also got a toothbrush and toothpaste as well as toys. The one that everyone remembers is the balsa wood airplane! My dad filled the stockings until my little brother turned 21 and decided we were too old. So, we took over – what’s Christmas without a stocking?
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:22 pm.
I agree–I love the stockings myself!
Posted on December 1, 2012 at 1:38 am.
How wonderful that your sister made you each one. My late grandmother crocheted stocking for all of her grand kids. It’s always been special to me, even when she was with us a prolific with the crocheted stuff.
I’m so late to the conversation again today. Now to scroll back and see what everyone else does for stockings.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 10:51 pm.
Good to see you, even late! I bought my parents crocheted stockings once, but they were unlined and that didn’t work well. Everything got stuck in the crochet!
Posted on December 1, 2012 at 1:39 am.
We have those red fuzzy ones you get at the mall with the name glued with glitter. Same ones every year. We always have candy canes & some sort of chocolate, like chocolate Santas.
Posted on November 30, 2012 at 11:00 pm.
Chocolate is a must for stockings, IMO.
Posted on December 1, 2012 at 1:39 am.