Hanging a Christmas stocking is a tradition that has been followed since times immemorial. This tradition has an interesting history behind it. Though there are no written records of the origin of Christmas stocking, there are quite some popular stories that have passed through generations till date. Though there have been some modifications in many such stories, one of the most popular legend that talks about the history of Christmas is given in the following lines.

Many centuries back, there lived a poor man in a village who had three beautiful daughters. His wife had passed away due to some illness and he had spent all his money to cure his wife. Thus, he was left with no money to get his daughters married. The three daughters were very kind and strong and this is what worried their father even more. He was concerned what would happen to them after his death.

It so happened that once, St. Nicholas was passing through the village when he over heard the discussion of some villagers who were talking about the pitiable condition of the three girls. St. Nicholas wanted to help the poor father but he knew that the old man won't accept money just like that. He decided to help in a secret way. He waited till it was night and stealthily came into their house through the chimney.

He had three bags of gold coins with him, one for each girl. As he was looking for a place to keep those three bags, he noticed stockings of the three girls that were hung over the mantelpiece for drying. He put each bag in each stocking and then went away. When the girls and their father woke up the next morning, they were thrilled to find the bags of gold coins. He happily married off his daughters one after the other and they also remained happy for the rest of their lives. The word about St. Nicholas being so generous spread throughout the village and then all over the land. Since then, it has been a tradition to hang stocking on Christmas in the hope that St. Nicholas would bring a present.