The custom of hanging stockings by the fireplace began around 300 A. D. Legend tells of three daughters of a poor miller who could not marry because they had no dowry. St. Nicholas, upon hearing of their plight, passed by their house in the middle of the night and tossed three bags of gold coins down the chimney of the girls' house. The bags landed in stockings which the girls had hung to dry the evening before.

Please me.

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