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Colossal Questions!

It's hard to picture Christmas morning without stockings hanging somewhere.

But if you actually think about it for one second, it's a pretty weird tradition.

Asking Santa Claus to fill a big stinky sock with toys and treats is definitely strange.

And even stranger? No one really knows how it started.

There is one popular story that's probably a bit more fiction than fact, but it gives the Christmas stocking quite the fantastical origin.

According to the tale, there was a father with three daughters who is having trouble making ends meet.

He worked hard day in and day out, but as winter approached, he worried he just couldn't do enough for them.

Come Christmas time, good old Saint Nicholas happened to be in town, heard all about the family, and decided to secretly help.

At night, he visited the house and found socks hanging by the fireplace to dry.

Being the generous gift-giver that he is, Saint Nick dug deep into his pockets and pulled out some coins, filling the socks.

But that's just one version of the story, and, like we said, as nice as it is, it's probably not true.

But, however this strange stocking tradition got started, it clearly caught on.

Kids were hanging a big sock by the fireplace all across Europe, hoping for a gift from Saint Nicholas.

The tradition did morph and change over time in different areas.

Some places leave out shoes instead of stockings on Saint Nicholas Day, December 6th, instead of Christmas Eve.

The shoes are left out with a bit of hay for Saint Nick's donkey, and by morning, they're filled with treats and toys.

Whether it's hay in your shoes or milk and cookies with a stocking, it all seems to be a variation on the same tradition.

By the early 1800s, the custom of hanging a stocking for Christmas had made it to the United States.

And people were already ditching their old dirty socks in favor of fancy stockings designed specifically for the season.

By the turn of the century, the plump, oversized stockings covered in Christmas designs that we know and love today was firmly in style.

Not only do big, specialized holiday stockings have way more space for stuffing, but they look much nicer hanging by the chimney with care.

So, this year, remember, it might seem weird to hang stockings, but at least we've come a long way from getting gifts and our dirty laundry.