The stockings hung by the fireplace with care, for Saint
Nicholas had already been there. One
held a stuffed kitty, the other a book.
Both had socks and a bit of chocolate.
The third one was empty.
The mother stood by the cold fireplace staring at the third,
empty stocking. It was the first year of
her life that her stocking had been empty.
There was no one to fill it with chocolate coins, CDs, socks, miniature
candles, gift cards, and as always, an orange snuggled in the bottom of the
toe.
This empty stocking didn’t mean no one loved her, and it
didn’t mean people had forgotten about her.
It meant she was Santa’s Helper now.
She wasn’t the one who would wake up in the middle of the night to see if
Santa had come. Instead, she was the one
who would hope her children would sleep past 5 A.M. Christmas morning. She was the one wrapping presents on
Christmas Eve. She was the one who
filled the stockings with care, and she was now the one who would gently place
a candy cane on her two children’s pillows.
She knew the empty stocking meant it was her turn to see the
joy on her children’s faces when they woke up the next morning to find a slide,
books, and a doll under the tree. The
empty stocking was a mark of growing up and carrying on the magic of
Christmas.
Next to the empty stocking was a small hand carved nativity
set made out of wood from an olive tree in Jerusalem. She thought of the cold night over 2,000
years ago that inspired this carving. His
mother laid Christ, who never had a stocking of His own, in a manger. That day He gave the world hope. He filled each person’s stocking with the
gift of salvation. And still, no one
filled His stocking. Instead He was
betrayed, beaten, and crucified.
The mother’s eyes flickered from her empty stocking to the carving
of the Christ Child. She realized her
stocking was far from empty. Not only
had Christ given her the gift of salvation, He had also given her the knowledge
of His Gospel, He had given her two wonderful children who, though they filled
her days with work and stress, they filled her heart with joy and love. He had given her a home where she could
provide a shelter for her children, not only from the snowstorms, but also from
the evils of the world. He had given her
the capacity to love, and the strength to persevere. He had given her friends and family to support
her. 2,000 years ago Christ had made it
possible so she could live again with her family.
She carefully rearranged the kitty in her daughter’s
stocking, hoping one day her children’s stockings would hang “empty” over the
fireplace as well.
