This Thursday Dec. 19, 2013 photo shows newborn baby Dallas Soffel in her Christmas stocking at Redlands Community Hospital in Redlands, Calif. Redlands Community Hospital has had a program for many years in which babies born in December are sent home in a Christmas stocking. The stockings are made by volunteers in the community. AP
REDLANDS, California – California hospitals are spreading holiday cheer for new parents by delivering newborns in giant Christmas stockings.
The bright red stockings were provided this week for babies born at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. The Long Beach Press-Telegram says it’s a half-century-old tradition.
The Redlands Community Hospital has been handing out stockings to parents of infants born this month.
The Riverside Press-Enterprise says the tradition began in 1930, but lapsed before it was revived in 2005.
This year, 16 volunteers made 250 fleece stockings during a daylong sewing bee.