Did You Ever Wonder Why We Put Oranges In Christmas Stockings?
Every year from when I was little until even now, I’ve always gotten a stocking for Christmas from my parents. It had candy, of course, and some little toy (or usually a gift card now), and an orange. When I was younger the orange would always roll away (or be nudged with a petulant toe) only to be found under the couch or in a corner after all the wrapping paper was picked up.
This year, I decided to finally ask my mom why we put oranges in Christmas stockings and her answer was so sweet.
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Did You Ever Wonder Why We Put Oranges In Christmas Stockings?
“Tradition,” she said.
Not a great answer, as far as answers go, but sweet.
Then she explained, when she was growing up her family didn’t have much money. Things like toys, candies, and especially fresh fruit were rare. Her parents were children of the great depression, and fresh fruit would have been even more rare for them.
So receiving an orange in the stocking was actually an enormous gift. It was a way of making sure every child had at least one sweet present to open on Christmas morning, no matter what.
How amazing is my mom?
I looked up the real answer when I got home, and it’s kind of cool, too.
Apparently back before St. Nicholas was a Saint, he was a bishop. Story goes he rode through a town where a shopkeeper had three beautiful daughters and couldn’t afford a dowry. Which meant the girls would be destitute once the father passed away.
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Bishop Nicholas, realizing the father was a proud man, tossed three sacks of gold through an open window (or down a chimney, depending on where you read it) while the family was sleeping and one of the bags landed in the toe of a stocking that had been hung by the fire to dry.
When the family awakened in the morning, they found the gold, including the one in the sock which had turned into a ball overnight.
So giving the orange is a way to celebrate generosity and caring for others without thinking about a gift in return. It’s meant to symbolize that gold ball and as a reminder to care for those in need.
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Both beautiful stories, but my mom’s is definitely the one that meant the most to me.
Do you give out oranges in stockings? Did you ever know why, or is it a family tradition in your home, too?
Merry Christmas!
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Have you ever wondered why we hide a pickle in the Christmas tree? Click here to find out.
When us girls participated in the christmas pageant at church we were given brown bags with peanuts and oranges.As we got older it turnded into socks (that we wore) and awoke to them stuffed with oranges, apples, and candy. My girls have cross stich / beaded stockings. The eve of ST. Nicholas they are filled with oranges and chocolates. Most of all the spirit of tradition. Thank you for the memory.
We didn’t have stockings growing up. I guess my parents either didn’t see the need or didn’t have money to buy for them. As I became a parent, we had stockings for our children. Now, I can spend as much on stocking stuffers as I do gifts so this year we cut them out. I can remember my sister putting fruit and nuts in her kids stockings but before Christmas would get here the fruit usually rotted. Lol, yuck!
It was a tradition in our house growing up and I have always done it with my kids too. I have heard variations of the story, but all were similar. Oranges were considered a treat because they were expensive.
We always got nuts and candy too.
My mother would always put tangerine, nuts and a banana in our stocking (I am 60) She always told me it was so we would have a half way decent breakfast before all the Christmas treats. I always did the same with my children.
My mom did too; thank you for reminding me!
My dad grew up on a farm in the prairies during deppression. He said just before Christmas the guys on the train going by the farm would toss an orange out. They were excited to get fresh sweet orange in the cold winter so they would line up waiting.
My grandparents owned apple orchards. They always put oranges in at Christmas for an unusual treat
Loved reading this. Was a tradition at my church growing up. Was a small country church. Santa would come and he would pass out the bags or stockings, always an orange in there.
Had never really ever wondered why. May be a continuing tradition around my home soon.
when I was a child I had an orange in my stocking and I still carry on this tradition with my daughter
We use Owari Satsuma Mandarins which are seedless, easy to peel, and so sweet!
Yes always! Every year our three boys have an orange in their stocking!
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When I was a child we received an orange an apple and mixed nuts in our stocking. My grandmother told the same story about the Great Depression. That’s how it became a tradition in our family as well. I’m the third generation to carry on this tradition.
First thing in the toe of the stocking is a brand new shiny penny, for good luck in the next year. Then the orange. I love the orange. They are sweet and juicy, and beautiful in color. I knew about the depression and what it meant to receive a real orange, such a rare thing. As a little girl, I just thought my mom just wanted us to have something that was good for us nutritionally and not just candy.
We received an orange, an enormous Red Delicious apple, and nuts in the shell. I don’t carry on the tradition in my family, but it was a special tradition when I was growing up.
Yes, and or tangerines. Tradition. I put them in my kid’s stockings too.
My grandmother, who also lived during the depression, used to tell stories of receiving an orange for Christmas, and how precious a gift it was. She told about she would eat it as slowly as possible in order to make it last.
Yes, my mom always put an orange into the bottom of our Christmas stockings, although how she K re to do this was beyond me, since we were Jewish, and she certainly grew up in an Orthodox, Kosher home. But she felt this was a cute “American” custom, so we did it every year. But because it wasn’t “our” holiday, we were only allowed to get small, relatively insignificant gifts in our Christmas stockings. So we’d get a pair of socks, a small toy, our own roll of Scotch tape (so we wouldnt use Mom’s !) and maybe another small treat. But always an orange at the bottom!
yes, we got an orange, and an apple, in our stocking but I never knew why particularly, but I kept up with the tradition with my kids.
the reason for oranges is a Christian one……the holy family packed them on their way to Bethlehem for liquid nourishment and to avoid dehydration in the desert……convenient so as to not carry loads of water in some kind of heavy or large vessel on a little donkey who was already burdened carrying a woman who was nine months pregnant! ….
My mom gave us an apple and an orange in our Christmas stockings every year. When I was a child I did not appreciate receiving them nor the meaning they had for my mother. I would put them back into the fruit bowl. It was not till after I was an adult and especially after she passed away, that this tradition became important to me.
The reason my mom gave us an apple and an orange in our stockings was because she grew up in World War II and shared stories of having to run into the shelters when their town was being bombed, and keeping the windows completely blackened so no light would shine thought at night time. My my grew up in Scotland.
Like your mom, fruit was difficult to get and if you received it as a gift in your stocking, it was truly a treasure. I keep this tradition with my grandchildren and they gladly accept them because it brings back wonderful memories they had with there Gran while she was still here with us.
My Dad would tell the story of getting grapes from Egypt at Christmas time packed in sawdust. Of course some of the grapes had partially gone soft but they ate them anyway because they knew they would not see them again until the next year! And we always had an orange in our stocking as well as a Christmas apple (Red Delicious) so when we cut them across we could see the star (5 point) which was the star of Bethlehem! I still make sure that an orange or clementines are in our adult children’s stocking and of course our Christmas apples!
Like so many, we also got an orange in the toe of our stocking because of tradition. We also got a banana in the top of our stocking, along with an apple, a candy cane, a chocolate Santa, some hard candy and popcorn as filler. We also got a small toy and a coloring book or comic book to keep us from getting our parents up too early. We were allowed to get our stockings and open them together. After 6:00 all 5 of us would pile on our parents bed and show them what we got. I continued much of that with my children and even though they are in their 30’s now, they still get a stocking.
I do put oranges in the stockings… plus a sugar mouse 🙂
My mom told me that back in the day fresh fruit was not available year round, and if you could get some it was expensive. So an orange in December was a delicacy.
We always had an orange or tangerine in the bottom of our stockings…the story I heard, went further back in history, when an exotic citrus would have been from some far away magical mystical place like the “far east” and to have such a thing was an extraordinary luxury….I imagine this story, if true, would most likely be from England or Europe….
My dad said when he was young (1930’s), fresh fruit was a real treat. There was always an orange in the family’s stockings, a sweet bun or roll, and some candy. I continued this tradition to my own children, and they in turn to theirs.