And the Stockings Were Hung

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

No one knows for certain where the custom of hanging stockings at Christmas Eve began — only that the practice.  From Italy comes the legend of the three penniless girls from which we are supposed to get the time-honored custom of hanging up the Christmas stocking. According to legend, a poor Italian father was faced with selling one of his three daughters into slavery in order to afford one of the dowries needed for others to marry.  The girls had washed out their stockings and hung them to dry over the fireplace.  Having heard of the families misfortune, Saint Nick decided to pay them a visit.  Late that night, riding his faithful white steed, he stopped by the house and saw their stockings through the window.  He secretly tossed three bags filled with gold coins down the chimney.  The bags fell into the stockings.  His kindhearted gifts made it possible for all three of the maidens to marry.

Eventually,  it became the custom of the people to hang their stockings  out of their windows on the night before Christmas, so that St. Nicholas could put a gift into them as he passed by. By and by, when coin became scarce, toys were put in for the children  and useful presents for grown people.

Another ancient  ancient legend relates  that the hanging of  Christmas stockings over the Yule log comes to us from Scandinavia.  According to the story, a young woman was sitting  by the fireplace on the night before Christmas, wishing for enough fine cloth to fashion her a wedding gown. Suddenly a forest sprite appeared down the chimney. Standing on the log all ready for lighting on the morrow, he softly whispered:

Wishing, Wishing, in the Yule log's name—

Keep wishing thy stockings full. 

Answer will come o'er the Yule log's flame—

Keep wishing thy stockings full.

The girl listened intently and tried to get closer to the charming sprite but he  vanished at once up the chimney as silently and softly as he had come. Excitedly, she hastily withdrew her stockings from both feet and fastened them to the chimney, then fled to her room, wondering whether she should find material for the wedding gown on the morrow. Sure enough, early Christmas morning when the shy maiden stole in the early dawn to the chimney,  she beheld her stockings filled with a silken fabric, plenty to make the bridal gown.

Had to share this one with you. It just goes to show you, things happen when you least expect it.  Yesterday, my son was going to do the  laundry and  run to the supermarket to pick up a few things.  Don't want to pick up too much because we will only have to carry it with us. But, he kept on procrastinating because during the day, the laundromat can be a disaster.


So, finally, about 6 pm he  headed out. Ten minutes later I get a call from him that there were some guys with a truck around the corner who were bringing used furniture and other things out of an apartment building. He stopped and asked if maybe they can help us out since we were close by, for a fee, of course, and they agreed to do so once they got done with that job. In all it cost $40, but it was well worth the piece of mind I felt afterward. 


They took old dishes, four bags of books, old VCR tapes, some pictures from the wall, bowls, cups, all my old school essays, course guides, things from hubby's office he no longer needed, coffee pot, my son's old DVD player, about 60 odd spoons, my old set of pots since I'm getting a new one, etc....things I hadn't been using and didn't plan on using again. In all, they took about twelve bags from me and a few boxes from me.  When you downsize from five rooms to three, there sure are a lot of decisions to be made.


As far as the old furniture goes, as I previously stated, the sofa bed and my son's double bed will stay.  I'll also leave the wooden kitchen cabinet.  All I have to dispose of is the love seat, cocktail table, lamp shades (which I forgot to give them last night), ironing board #2, shopping cart, microwave, and some milk crates we used to carry my gardening supplies when we moved here.  Since then, they have been used for storage.  I'll contact sanitation and see if I can put them out Friday.  If not, I have two other possibilities...our plumber who has a friend with a truck and the guys from last night who may do our moving if their price is cheaper renting the truck and paying a few guys to do the job.

Life sure does work in strange ways, doesn't it?  And like I always say, everything happens for a reason.  Had my son gone earlier, he would not have met up with these guys.  Now, it's all the less I have to deal with.  Still some stress here as I try to figure where to put things, but, I will say, a lot less.