A sweet story behind this tradition: An Orange for Christmas

Soo Line By Soo Greiman  

Welcome to the season of traditions that bring us together during this special time of  year. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like thinking about holiday stuff like decorations, foods,  cards, gift-giving, get-togethers, twinkling lights and Christmas trees during December.  

I can only imagine what my great-grandfather would say about gifts passed out at  Christmastime now because of the vast difference between Christmas gifts when he was a  child in the late 1800’s compared to gift-giving today. Honestly, the number of presents now  distributed at Christmas is nothing short of staggering and the polar opposite of how it used to  be. I think my great-grandpa would cringe at our over-the-top gift-giving habits today. But at  the same time he would probably love finding out our tradition of giving gifts is rooted in the  same stories like the three wisemen bringing gifts to the baby Jesus and a long-ago Santa  Claus who gave his fortune away to others in need.  

As kids of the 50’s and early 60’s, after Christmas dinner my siblings and I would crowd  around great-grandpa Art Hollis, a retired farmer from south of Hudson asking him to tell what  Christmas had been like when he was little. After finishing his story, I would feel sorry for him. I  thought their only gift, an orange was given out of the family’s poverty. Don’t get me wrong, I  was not raised in extravagance but jeepers, even I, a baby boomer of the 50’s could not  imagine being content with a single orange in my stocking and a pair of home-knitted mittens.  But that’s exactly what our great-grandpa, his brothers and sister got; an orange and either a  hat, or mittens their mother had knitted.  

He always finished saying, “You can’t imagine how special that orange was. It was a  real treat. It showed our parents loved us.” While I doubted him, he would tell how getting a  piece of fresh fruit in December took planning, and extra money so on wintery Christmas  morningswhen he picked out a shiny orange from his stocking it seemed like a tiny miracle, a  moment of pure abundance.  

To imagine a child of one hundred-plus years ago holding an orange like it was an  extravagant treasure seems unreal, but my great-grandpa made sure we knew he was  exceedingly happy how his parents ‘made do’ with a half dozen oranges as special gifts from  Santa  

This is the part of the story when I remind myself that back then, I was young and  innocent relying on the life experiences of an 8-and 9-year-old. Years later, ok, much later, older  and wiser me realized the bigger picture, that for centuries, an orange was a holiday treasure  because it was a gift given with meaning, planning and sacrifice.  

Our tradition of giving gifts has such a rich history, tracing back centuries ago, a  reminder of the generosity and hope three wise men had as they brought presents to a  newborn baby and his parents. It took me a long time to understand what an orange in a  Christmas stocking signified, but my great-grandfather knew and told us several times. Finally,  I finally got it.