It's a day I look forward to and treasure. I still hang Christmas stockings for the kids and I enjoy putting child games and toys inside each stocking along with other goodies to remind my grown children that life can be fun. Play. Silly is good.
When Clement Clarke Moore published his famous poem Twas The Night Before Christmas
in 1822, the first paragraph talked about hanging stockings:Twas the night before Christmas
when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.
Eventually, it became a general tradition that Christmas gifts were left in the stockings hung up on Christmas Eve. Any parent who has a child can easily understand that the kids figured out that if they hung bigger stockings, they might get bigger or more treats, so the size of the stockings grew with each passing Christmas.
Even when the families celebrating Christmas grew wealthy enough that they exchanged larger boxed presents, the tradition of hanging up stockings continued (as did the warning that if you were not well behaved, you might not get any presents – just a lump of coal in your stocking).
I tried to stop hanging up Christmas stockings one year and got a rousing roar of objections, so I know that the stocking tradition I started for my children oh so many years ago is enjoyed and appreciated. I continue stuffing stockings for this reason. I have amazing children.
Even in these financially troubling times, the good in life is not money (although money can relieve a great many problems). The true good in life is people, the circle of people in your life. Loving. Sharing. Being together in person and in your thoughts with the people you love and who love you is an indescribable dance that makes your toes jingle from morning through bedtime.
I feel so incredibly grateful for my honey, my wonderful children, and all those who fill my life with smiles. I feel like dancing all the time.
I have received more joy from my family than anyone deserves. I sincerely thank you each and all. Remember that life is a circle: you get what you give. Get those toes a jinglin' and dance dance dance.
Have a wonderful Merry Christmas, and in the coming new year, make each day better than the last for yourself and those you love.