From Ryder at GayToons2 a history of the tradition of hanging stockings for St. Nick to fill:
While there are no written records of the origin of the Christmas Stocking, there are popular legends that attempt to tell the history of this
Christmas tradition. One such legend has several variations, but the following is a good example: Very long ago, there lived a poor man and his
three very beautiful daughters. He had no money to get his daughters married, and he was worried what would happen to them after his death.
Saint Nicholas was passing through when he heard the villagers talking about the girls. St. Nicholas wanted to help, but knew that the old man
wouldn`t accept charity. He decided to help in secret. He waited until it was night and crept 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 one bag in each stocking and off he went. When the girls and their father
woke up the next morning, they found the bags of gold coins and were of course, overjoyed. The girls were able to get married and live happily
ever after.[1]
This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas. Sometimes the story is
told with gold balls instead of bags of gold. That is why three gold balls, sometimes represented as oranges, are one of the symbols for St.
Nicholas. And so St. Nicholas is a gift-giver.[1]
A tradition that began in a European country originally, children simply used one of their everyday socks, but eventually special Christmas
stockings were created for this purpose. The Christmas stocking custom is derived from the Germanic figure Odin. According to Phyllis Siefker,
children would place their boots, filled with carrots, straw, or sugar, near the chimney for Odin’s flying horse, Sleipnir, to eat. Odin would
reward those children for their kindness by replacing Sleipnir’s food with gifts or candy.[2] This practice, she claims, survived in Germany,
Belgium and the Netherlands after the adoption of Christianity and became associated with Saint Nicholas as a result of the process of
Christianization. Today, stores carry a large variety of styles and sizes of Christmas stockings, and Christmas stockings are also a popular
homemade craft.
Many families create their own Christmas stockings with each family member’s name applied to the stocking so that Santa will know which stocking
belongs to which family member.
And here are some sweet things just made to stuff your stocking . . .
All art by Voider.
SUPERVERSITY 
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