What children often hang on the walls of their rooms at Christmas time to wait for the arrival of Christmas presents

When Christmas comes, children often hang Christmas stockings on the walls of their rooms to wait for the arrival of Christmas presents.

Christmas stockings are the socks that Santa Claus wears on Christmas Day, and British children put their stockings by the fireplace on Christmas Eve, believing that Santa Claus will come down the big chimney at night and bring them stockings full of presents.

The Christmas stocking is the vehicle and symbol of Santa Claus' gifts to people. At 5.3 meters high, the North Pole Christmas stocking is currently the world's largest giant Christmas stocking and has been entered into the World Guinness Book of Records.

British children and teenagers put their stockings next to the fireplace on Christmas Eve, believing that Santa Claus will come down the big chimney at night and bring them stockings full of gifts. In France, children and teenagers leave their shoes on the doorstep so that "the Holy Child will come and put the presents inside them".

The Legend of the Christmas Stocking

Once upon a time, there was a kind-hearted nobleman whose wife died of illness, leaving him and his three daughters behind. The nobleman tried a number of inventions, all of which failed, and ran out of money, so they had to move to a farmhouse to live, and his daughters were left to cook, sew and clean themselves.

A few years passed, and his daughters came of age to get married, but the father became even more frustrated because he had no money to buy his daughters a dowry. One night, the daughters hung their stockings in front of the fireplace to dry after doing laundry. Saint Nicholas, knowing of their father's plight, came to their door that very night.

He saw from the window that the family was asleep and noticed the girls' stockings. Thereupon, he took three small packets of gold out of his pocket and threw them down the chimney one by one, just dropping them into the girls' stockings.

The next morning, the daughters woke up to find their stockings full of gold, enough to buy them a dowry. The nobleman was able to see his daughters get married and lived happily ever after.

The tradition of hanging Christmas stockings has since been carried on by children all over the world. In some countries, children have other similar customs, such as in France, where children put their shoes by the fireplace and so on.