Morrisons rekindles Christmas traditions

Morrisons in Cambuslang is working to revive the almost forgotten tradition of putting an orange into a Christmas stocking.

The store dished out hundreds of oranges on Saturday, along with a story-card telling the history of the tradition, so that parents can read it to their children ahead of the big day.

The supermarket took the action after learning 79 per cent of Brits with children no longer observe the tradition of an orange in Christmas stockings.

Francis Parker, store manager at Morrisons Cambuslang, said the now increasingly neglected Christmas tradition is in danger of disappearing altogether.

“Like kissing under the mistletoe and putting out carrots for Rudolph, oranges in stockings is part of the magic of Christmas,”he said.

“We want to help keep these traditions alive and help Cambuslang’s parents pass on the stories behind them to their children.

“And if Father Christmas wants to swing by and pick up an extra sack of oranges we’ll be happy to help.”

The orange tradition can be traced back to a story about Father Christmas who dropped three gold coins down a poor family’s chimney for them to find in the morning.

They landed in the childrens’socks which were hanging by the fire to dry. To remind us of this he now leaves a golden orange.

For the last two years Morrisons has helped to rekindle interest in great British Christmas traditions.

In 2015 the supermarket gave away 50,000 sprigs of mistletoe to the nation’s festive romantics.

Whilst in 2016 Morrisons brought back carols to its in-store playlist after 15 years, and handed out 100,000 wonky carrots for Rudolph.