The custom of hanging out stockings or setting out shoes in the hope of receiving Christmas gifts is said to have begun with:

When St. Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra, he knew a poor family with three daughters.  As each girl came of age, St. Nicholas provided her dowry by secretly throwing a bag of gold into the house.  Some say the gold was dropped down the chimney and fell into a stocking hanging there to dry.  Some say the gold fell into a shoe.