The White Stocking

Most of you have heard about a white stocking christmas tradition in one form or the other.   I recieved a story about it one year and liked the idea, but the poem was badly written and confusing (my friend didn't write it, so no offense intended there, it was a great thought.)  I sat down and thought it should go another way, in a few minutes I had written this poem.  I think it was inspired to help my family with a goal-setting tradition.  It has been ten years since I wrote this and we have nine years of wonderful gifts all still stuffed in the original white stocking (we took one crazy year off, because no one is perfect!)

The White Stocking

by Regina Slaugh

There were packages wrapped for the young and the old

Each stocking was filled and the Christmas story told.

Every child would be happy, no grown-ups were slighted,

Each soul was remembered and we were delighted.

But when the first rays of Christmas were dawning

The littlest child discovered the stocking.

Oh we were surprised, now where had in come from?

And where had it been when the others were hung?

While we were remembered with presents aplenty,

The little white stocking was hanging there empty.

In all of our efforts to love and remember,

Who had we missed for a gift this December?

Remember on Christmas we honor the birth

Of our Savior divine and his life on this earth?

Well this stocking so white with simple gold trim,

Started each of us thinking of giving to Him.

So then all at once we began to explain,

That surely this stocking had a meaning quite plain

We should include in our holiday giving

A gift to the Savior, the King of all Living.

Now each Christmas Eve we all gather together

And write down our gifts to Him on some paper

Next into the stocking our papers will go

Goals to help faith and obedience grow.

We try to remember the gift that we’ve given

And make it a part of our everyday living.

Then our gift to the Savior will last all year through,

Until next Christmas Eve, when we write something new.

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“In conclusion, the submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal thing we have to place on God’s altar. The many other things we “give,” brothers and sisters, are actually the things He has already given or loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is truly ours to give!”

Neal A. Maxwell, “Swallowed Up in the Will of the Father,” Ensign, Nov. 1995
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P.S. we have learned about making age appropriate "gifts" the adults usually choose a year long goal and the kids choose a goal that lasts as many weeks as they are old...