Oranges and Nuts: Parents' Sweet Gift of a Better Life

A few years ago, I sent out a request for people from home to send me their Christmas memories. I received such a collection of wonderful stories that were rooted in Appalachian traditions and described ways of living that had faded with time.

Until I read those Christmas stories, I did not grasp the significance of the fresh oranges, nuts and chocolates that filled our Christmas stockings. In addition to our stockings, my parents delivered wicker baskets with fruits and candies for their friends.

I resolved to ask questions, and the answers opened up a world that helped me understand my parents in a whole new light. I only wish I had known to ask questions when my dad and grandparents were alive.

My mother and dad, the children of coal miners in Lee County, Virginia, each grew up in small houses owned by the mining company. Their meals consisted of local food their families grew. Oranges and nuts were not native to the high mountains, so they were considered luxuries. These were distributed at Christmas by the coal companies that delivered one orange, some nuts and chocolate for each child in a family.

“They were fresh and juicy,” my mother said of the oranges. “We tried to make ours last as long as we could. And store-bought chocolate wrapped in paper. It was pure heaven.”

So that’s why the oranges, chocolates and nuts filled our stockings a generation later. My parents wanted us to experience the same luxuries they had. But Mama never told us about the rarity of the fruit during her childhood. Instead, in my childhood, oranges were readily available. My mother bought them often and we had oranges as evening snacks for the whole family.

Yet, by continuing the Christmas stocking tradition, Mama and Daddy had fulfilled the wish of every parent – to give their children better lives than they had --with a few oranges, nuts and chocolates.