T minus 5 days and counting ....

Maybe you can guess what today's blog entry is about. Wait. Never mind. I'm giving you entirely too much credit. I'll just go ahead and spell it out for you.

Today, I will be discussing Christmas stockings. My favorite thing about Christmas stockings is that they allow Santa to leave more presents when he runs out of room under the tree. When I first heard about Christmas stockings, I thought the idea was pure genius. In fact, I was so impressed, I went and did some research regarding the genesis of Christmas stockings.

And you'll be surprised to learn that I traced their origins all the way back to 19th century Netherlands and a little boy named Sven Bbjornstrand who would hang his only pair of socks by the fireplace to dry after long days spent logging in Vlissingen. Every day, Sven would come home with a bundle of wood to heat the house and dry his socks by the warmth of the fire. Sven was an introspective boy and desired to leave his life of logging behind so he could study cartography in Amsterdam. His family, however, was poor and could not even afford firewood, let alone the necessary cartography books to get Sven started on his mapmaking career. So a logging life it would be for little Sven. The only real pleasure he had in life was waking up on cold Vlissingen mornings and taking his warm socks off of the mantle above the fireplace. One frigid morning (December 25, of course) Sven woke up and was horrified to find his beloved socks stuffed with large hardcover books about cartography. The books were so large that they stretched his socks to their tearing point. When little Sven tried to put the socks on, they just fell down. With no socks to keep his feet warm, he wouldn't be able to go out logging that day (or any day thereafter). No logging meant no money and no free firewood, which was essential to the Bbjornstrands. Sven's home would have been very, very cold that day had Santa not left the cartography books, with which the Bbjornstrands made a roaring fire.

None of my research indicates what happened to the poor Bbjornstrands after that particular fire died down. They had no money and Sven, their only source of income, simply could not work sock-less. I can only assume they froze to death.

So, in honor of Sven Bbjornstrand, we hang stockings on mantles to this day. Of course, the tradition has evolved a bit. The stockings are much larger (to make room for more presents) and we don't normally burn the contents for warmth.

That's it for today, but I'll be back tomorrow with another thing I love about Christmas! Until then, take a long look at your stockings and give silent thanks to Sven Bbjornstrand for his wonderful contribution to this, the most glorious of holidays.