CHRISTMAS EVE 2008

HANG UP THE BABY'S STOCKING

Hang up the baby's stocking,

Be sure you don't forget,

The dear little dimpled darling

Has never seen Christmas yet.

But I've told her about it

And she opened her big, bright eyes,

I'm sure she understands it,

She looked so funny and wise.

But look at the baby's stocking!

Why anything so small

For such a darling baby

Would just hold nothing at all!

I know what I'll do for baby,

I've thought of the very best plan!

I'll borrow a stocking from Grandma

The longest that ever I can.

And you'll hang it by mine, dear Mother,

Right here in the corner so,

And write a letter to Santa

And fasten it onto the toe.

Write: "This is the baby's stocking

That hangs in the corner here,

You've never seen her, Santa,

For she only came this year.

But she's just the blessedest baby,

And now before you go,

Just fill her stocking with goodies

From the top clean down to the toe.

My Aunt Ethel, my dad's sister, sent this poem to me the year Milo was born (1977). She wrote: "This little song has been in the Dobson family for as long as I can remember and was sung to each baby who had just entered the family circle. I remember we sang it to Vance (my dad) and Shirley (the youngest), and I feel sure it was also sung to me." An online search revealed the original poem was written by Emily Huntington Miller and published as sheet music by Oliver Ditson and Company in 1870. The words are a little different than those Aunt Ethel wrote from memory. KW