Stockings

I've been wrapping stocking gifts tonight.  They are easier--no bows to put on--and one can use all those ends of wrapping paper which have come out of wrapping larger gifts.  Our family has always enjoyed gathering small gifts for stockings.  The gifts might range from chewing gum, to hair barrettes, to a set of batteries (one can never have enough  AA batteries ).

When I was growing up, I remember stockings were really old socks.  There would always be an apple, an orange, and various nuts.  We spent hours out on the porch trying to break those exotic inch-long nuts with the name I can't use here. They are correctly called Brazil nuts. They were very good, if one could ever get into them.  Then there were the almonds, pecans, and  hazelnuts--also hard to crack  Sometimes there was even money in the toe of the stocking--a quarter usually.  How times have changed.