Most Popular Gifts in 1913

[orleans]

15. i remember i gave my parents a lump of coal in their stockings

when i was a teenager. i thought it was funny
because, as rumor had it, their parents threatened santa would leave lumps of coal in stockings if kids were bad.

my parents got a kick out of it when i did it. it was quite the "novel" idea.

turns out, my mom saved it--all these years. i found it in the box in her dresser after she died. i think i cried when i found it.