The Stockings were Hung

The year was 1974 or 1975. We had no fireplace, so we hung our stockings on the wall. As we hung the boys stocking, s they wondered why Mom and Dad had none.
I never had a stocking to hang. As a kid, we always used out shoes to show Santa where our spot was.
That is an old German tradition. ( I think, you may correct me if I am wrong)
So here we were with no stockings on the wall. The boys were about 10 and 7 so David and I decided we would hang stockings.
I dove into the dresser drawers and found a pair of Stockings, (pantie Hose) David found a pair of black socks. We laughingly hung them on the wall.
The boys had a lot of laughs about Moms stockings and Dads sock.
However that is not the end of the story.
We lived by some very unsavory people. The boys were always in trouble with the police or doing something evil. One day they broke into our wash room and stole our pop bottles. That was a pretty good haul for them.
Another time I heard someone walking on our roof. Yep it was the kids. His name was , OK wont say. , and if you look up his name I am sure he is in prison for theft and possibly murder. He, was pretty messed up. However he was a kid and kids do things.
One day, after the stockings were hung, and the big cedar tree in the front yard was full of lights. I noticed something awry.
I had plugged in my outside tree lights, Only half the tree lit up. I went out to check the connection. Imagine my surprise when the lights were not only "not lit up", they were gone. Gone as in stolen.
We called the police. As the officer sat in our living room making out his report, I suddenly looked up.
There in all its glory were my Pantie Hose, not only hung, but hung from each side of the waist band to show the full body of the garment.
I was mortified.
What could I do, I pretended not to notice. As he left I yelled. "Oh MY Gosh look at the wall."
The guys rolled on the floor in laughter.
To make matters even worse, the policeman was a man David knew, And we ran into him often. In fact we ran into him a few weeks ago.

Today they still laugh at that one snafu.
So today if I don't have a stocking, I do not hang a Stocking. (pantyhose).