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.
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.
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.
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!
Have you ever wondered why we hide a pickle in the Christmas tree? Click here to find out.
Why does someone have to call something made by God like and orange pagan. Always out to make something bad out of something sweet and memorable.
need to dig deeper, oranges are a pagan decoration, your story is just more appropriation by catholics.
Oranges were rare on the frontier, and most children had never even seen one, so they were special. Later, they were too expensive for many (such as my mom’s family) to enjoy year round during the Depression. My preacher grandpa was most certainly not a Catholic!
My parents always put oranges in our stocking. My mom was born in 1929, relatively poor. She never mentioned the sweet aspect, but she said it was always a treat, and it always made them happy to see the stockings “full”.
Yes!! My mother always put clementines, nuts and candies at the bottom of our stockings. The clementine would always be in the “toe” of the stocking and would be the first thing we’d all eat on Christmas morning. And, yes, I still put clementines in our family’s stocks now too. It’s tradition! ???
Up until the middle of the 20th century, there was very little food transportation over long distances. Oranges ripen in the winter in southern climates. Only the wealthy could enjoy citrus fruit in the middle and northern regions of Europe and North America. For a middle class family, oranges were still an extravagance and something no one would have disdained! We have little feeling for these things now, since we can have anything we want at any time of the year from anywhere in the world at totally affordable prices.
Orange in the toe of the stocking along with some peanuts. Both were a treat because we didn’t get them any other time. We were not financially well off but my mom always made Christmas a big deal.
It is a family tradition. But, I like the explanation of your mother. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up. It was such a treat for us. We also got huge apples and nectarines.
Our stockings always had an orange, tangerine, apple, walnuts, chocolate drops, hard candy and a candy cane. I continued it with my children but they haven’t passed it on to theirs.
My mom did this for me and my brother. I did for my children and now so it for my grandchildren.
My Mom was also a child of the depression years. We always got an apple and an orange! I carried on the tradition to my kids.
My grandmother always gave us apples and oranges with some nuts. It always stuck with me. I do the same for my own children. My daughter ask every year to make sure that I will do it. I’m pretty sure the tradition will continue with her.
My mom was a child of the depression, but she always received an orange and a shiny penny for Christmas.
I too grew up with oranges in the toe of our stockings & have continued to do so raising my children. They have always been what was referred to as “Japanese oranges” in our homes, I suppose because they were mandarins. Way back my Dad (now 84) told of growing up in a coal mining town in Canada, seven children who had lost their parents when he was five & of course little money. The special oranges were individually wrapped in a soft red tissue paper from the store. (This was true even when I was growing up in the United States) I’m 53. The soft red tissue paper was also considered such a blessing back in my Dads time because it was used in the outhouse in place of the harsh catalog pages. Lol but, amazing history & strength!
I always do fruit not just oranges. My mom alwaus did fruit and all different kings of nuts stil in the shell we had fun using the nut cracker and eating the nuts
My siblings and I all received HUGE navel oranges and chocolate gold coins in our stockings. Along with some other fun items and an activity book to keep me busy until my parents woke up. My sister got a farmer’s almanac every year, ( she is 9 years older) which she always enjoyed reading.
I wish I could find the activity books I used to get in my stocking. They had a special pen that revealed letters or words in a series of puzzles and hangman game. The search continues!
I will continue the tradition with my wife and daughter.
They’re called Yes and No books and they have some on Amazon.
@Anthony Luke, Target
I grew up in New Jersey. I have never heard of this tradition.
Tradition from my depression era parents . They had more than most since they had the riches of living on their own farm but a fresh orange was always a treat .
My mother was a child during the depression, and often told the story of getting an orange in her and the rest of the siblings stockings. Some years that was all they received , occasionally the girls would get barrettes. I’m not sure what the boys got
Growing up with many cousins my dad, uncles, would hook up the haywagon with stawbales and mom, aunts, kids would jump on and we’d sing Christmas songs. Dad would dress up as Santa and deliver Oranges to families around the block. As a little girl this has taught me about (service) serving other people and it doesn’t have to be anything big but that ORANGE shares many great memories of Family and Serving. By the time we ended we had a
haywagon load of singers, family and friends. We’d end up at my grandparents home and continue the family festivity. Families and Memories are Forever..
Merry Christmas
I as well would receive a stocking with walnuts, an apple in the heel, an orange and a penny in the toe every year. A few years ago I had heard that the tradition was because illnesses were more prevalent, and citrus fruits were rare to come by. Receiving such was such a treat, but also wishing health and wealth.
Yes! I put oranges in our stocking because mom always did, for the reasons your mom gave. I prepared a neighborhood gift for our local fire station this week and included oranges for them too. Passing on the gift!
We do the chocolate orange now:) Though I do prefer the real orange when we can get good ones.
Another interesting insight to the orange for Christmas, comes from a northern perspective. Oranges, mandarins, and like fruit, were not something that could be found in the markets during winter seasons, and so was considered as a special treat.
Along the same thought of not having money for the luxury of tropical fruit, which equate to gold. Oranges, mandarins, clementines, and pomegranate would be a highly appreciated stocking stuffer… And even more appreciated would be chocolate.
I keep the tradition with clementines, chocolate and pomegranate. Christmas would be incomplete without it ☺
The tradition in our family for the past 80 years has been, tangerines.
We always got an orange and a soft peppermint stick. We would bite off each end of the peppermint stick, cut a hole in the orange, insert the peppermint and use it as a straw to suck out the orange juice. What a treat! Peppermint Orange juice! When the juice was gone and the peppermint stick almost all disolved, we would break open the orange and eat the inside.
I carried on this tradition for my son and now for his children too.