STOCKING STUFFERS

Alex was sitting at the kitchen table, peeling an orange when I came into the room. “Oh my gosh, that smells so good.”

Alex pointed to the bowl of oranges sitting on the counter. “A whole bowl of them showed up today if you want one.”

“Showed up?” I had to laugh. “Who do you think bought them and put them in that bowl?”

Alex shrugged his shoulders and laughed. “Well, now that you mention it I guess that would be you.” He'd finished peeling it and handed me a segment.

“Thanks.” I took a bite and it tasted as good as it smelled. “You know every time I smell an orange it reminds me of Christmas.”

Alex looked confused. “Why?”

“Because we didn't have oranges very often, but we'd get one in the toe of our Christmas stocking every year.” I smiled at the memory. “All my brothers and sisters would dump our stockings out and I don't know about them, but the first thing I would do is peel that orange.”

I looked over at him and saw the confused look on his face. “What?” I asked.

“You got an orange in your stocking?”

“Sure. We got an orange and an apple.”

“Well, that's just sad.” He said biting into another segment. “Your parents just emptied out the fruit bowl from the counter?”

“No.” I corrected him. “We didn't have a fruit bowl on our counter. In fact it was a big treat to get the oranges.”

“Why?”

I had to think about it for a moment. “I don't know.” Now I was confused. I picked up the phone and called my sister. When she picked up and didn't even bother saying hi I just raced right into the question I wanted to ask. “Was it weird that we got oranges in our stockings?”

“No.” she answered. “I thought it was a sweet tradition. In fact, just the smell of an orange makes me think of Christmas morning.”

“Me too!” I cried. I looked over at Alex. “See, your Aunt thought it was a sweet tradition too.”

Alex didn't look convinced. “I'll pass on the orange in my stocking, thanks.” He looked over at the bowl on the counter. “If I want an orange I'll just get one from the bowl.”

My sister had overheard him. “Tell him that when we were kids oranges were expensive and there were seven kids in our family so getting an orange in our stocking was a treat.” I said.

“I'm not telling him that.” I whispered.

“Why?”

“Because now I feel like a Grandpa telling a story about how he had to walk three miles to school, in a blizzard, with a hole in his shoe!”

“Well, it's the truth.” she reminded me.

I looked at Alex as he collected up the orange peels and went over to the garbage to throw them out.

“Oranges were just a sweet tradition our parents had that they passed on to us.” I told him.

Alex shrugged his shoulders. “Well, thanks for not passing that tradition down to me.” he closed the drawer to the garbage. “I'm pretty happy with gift cards and candy.” he gave me a kiss on the top of my head. “We should make that our tradition.”

I watched him walk down the hall then went back to the conversation with my sister. “Somehow the tradition I've started doesn't seem nearly as sweet as the one we grew up with.” I said with a sigh.