What kid doesn't love to pull off the wrapping paper and bows to reveal their Christmas gift? There was such excitement on those mornings. I clearly remember getting a keyboard one year; a guitar another. Those snapshot moments are captured in my mind forever. But one of the things I found to be a great tradition was the Christmas stocking. Because I grew up with neither hearth nor staircase, mine was often those made of netting (way back when), that contained mostly candy; perhaps a toy. I believe they still exist for the furry companion on your list.

But there's just something special about pulling down a stocking and having precious goodies fall out. During this time of year, I'm pulled back to my childhood, as I watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. In the later, the 'Burgermeister Meisterburger' issues a ruling that there was to be no toys at Christmas--only washing stockings. Tough grind for sure, but the point was that the stockings were hung to dry on the mantle and that's how toys were snuck into houses and how the tradition of leaving gifts in stockings came to be. Actually, it is said that the tradition originated with a man named Nicholas, back in the First Century. A generous man with no wife or children, he was said to have been extremely generous. When he heard of one family who fell into poverty and the father's concern for his daughter and dowry, Nicholas supposedly dumped three bags of coins down the chimney, which landed in the children's stockings hung by the fire to dry.

Who really knows how it happened. It's an olden-day mystery. One thing is for sure:it's so much fun when gifts come in all sorts of unexpected packaging. Of course, toys and candy are favorite treats, but perhaps some books might find their way in there as well. I remember reading Nancy Drew as a young girl, and personally, I treasured finding one of those mysteries, whether in my stocking or somewhere else.

So while my childhood musical gifts didn't set me on a pathway to Partridge Family fame, it did create memories, like books and movies create memories. As I write this, I'm waxing nostalgic and thinking of new ways, now with no young children at home anymore, to create the joy of receiving special goodies---in stockings, in wreaths, in pots, paint cans......surprise!