Lessons from a Stocking.

In the food chain of stockings, it's nothing special, but something deep within stirred when my mother recently sent this childhood relic. Making her way through some long-ignored Christmas box, no doubt, she found this glimpse of Christmas past and decided to send it to her 54 year-old little boy. Like few other objects, it carried me back to the Dr. Denton mornings of rushing to the fireplace in my parents’ room at first light where my stocking hung, farthest on the right.

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 Such time travel can lead to stifling nostalgia, but it can also feed an adult’s soul. To remember when life was not so complicated, when the content of a stocking was a great concern, can renew one’s heart. To feel again the joy and happiness that is uniquely Christmas can awaken one to the years of debris that now clouds our spiritual receptors. 

I was told by a reliable source that if I am to receive the Kingdom of God, I am to become like a child. It was a lesson heard too early, before I could understand it’s meaning, but the stocking now hanging on our mantle teaches the lesson anew. 

So bring on the lights . . . turn up the carols . . . and hold on tight to the people and traditions that speak to your heart! 

Let’s go back, if only for a moment. Let’s stop squinting at the world and open our eyes wide again. Let’s lift our burdened shoulders and dance. Let’s race our children to Christmas morning, where hanging on the mantle is all we need to know.