There’s a special connection between the Christmas season and stockings.
For several centuries, hanging stockings by the fireplace has been a tradition, most famously noted in Clement Clarke Moore’s story, “A Visit from St. Nicholas”:
“'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.”
I’m not sure why or where the practice began, but here is one of the popular legends, according to Smithsonian.com:
“A recently widowed man and father of three girls was having a tough time making ends meet. Even though his daughters were beautiful, he worried that their impoverished status would make it impossible for them to marry.
“St. Nicholas was wandering through the town where the man lived and heard villagers discussing that family’s plight. He wanted to help but knew the man would refuse any kind of charity directly. Instead, one night, he slid down the chimney of the family’s house and filled the girls’ recently laundered stockings, which happened to be drying by the fire, with gold coins. And then he disappeared.
“The girls awoke in the morning, overjoyed upon discovering the bounty. Because of St. Nick’s generosity, the daughters were now eligible to wed and their father could rest easy that they wouldn’t fall into lonely despair. “
It’s a very dated storyline, and I wonder how he slid down the chimney if there was a fire drying the stockings. But it’s interesting folklore.
For some people in our community, stockings have another significance at this time of year. Socks for Seniors is one of the many collection and distribution programs in our area that help those in need. In this case, it’s the elderly in assisted living and retirement homes.
The local Socks for Seniors program is run by a couple who recently retired. I’d share their names, but they prefer to put the emphasis on the program and not on themselves.
She started the local program four years ago. Last year he helped to sort and pack them. With his training completed, this year he became her official assistant.
This is part of the national Socks for Seniors program, which was started in 2002 and is based in Columbus, Ohio.
Locally, socks are collected from late November through mid-December at the Wyomissing Family Restaurant and at the three Boscov’s stores in Berks County.
Hamid Chaudhry, who owns the restaurant, offers a gift of a half-dozen donuts, mini pie, loaf of bread or pint of soup to anyone who donates six pairs of socks at his restaurant. It’s one of many ways Hamid has supported programs and organizations in the area, which is why he is loved and respected by so many in our community.
The program also receives support from the Reading Eagle,which runs free advertisements about the collection, and WEEU radio, which promotes the collection on Mike Faust’s popular Feedback program.
In four years, they have collected more than 14,000 pairs of socks. It takes a lot of hours to set up the collection boxes and empty them several times so they can be refilled during the three-week collection period.
The fun part for them is to see the variety of socks as they count and sort them into piles for men and women in her sunroom. Many of the socks are plain white or black. Some are thick and fuzzy. Others have designs and images, such as cats, frogs and flamingoes.
After the socks are collected, counted and sorted, they travel around the county, from mid-December through early January, to deliver bags of socks to retirement and nursing homes, non-profits and homeless shelters that serve elderly residents.
The rewarding part is knowing they will be helping our elderly neighbors to stay warm during the long winter.
So this year, once again, stockings were collected and donated by the community with care in hopes that our seniors stay warm through the year.
It’s a program that’s not only feet-warming, but also heart-warming.
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