For New Mothers, Big Things Come in Little Packages

Five of the loveliest Christmas stockings were delivered Wednesday, not by Santa Claus but by nurses in a Baltimore hospital.

Following a tradition that began in the 1950s, babies born at Mercy Hospital on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day are brought to their mothers stuffed snuggly in a bright red stocking.

Nancy Daily, on duty in the hospital’s nursery, said five healthy babies--three girls and two boys--were placed into their mother’s arms so far this year, each warmed by a fuzzy red stocking and kept smiling by silver bells sewn to the stocking’s toe.

“Oh, they look so cute,” Daily said. “And their mothers are so proud, proud as punch.”