Saint Nicholas was a bishop in Asia Minor, he lived in the 4th century. There is a story about the bishop who knew of a man who was going to sell his daughters into slavery because he was unable to afford to dower them into marriage. So Saint Nicholas gave each of the girls gifts of gold coins when it came their time to marry.
But Saint Nicholas didn't want any credit for his good deed so he threw the gold into the house. One legend is that he threw it down the chimney and it dropped onto a stocking that was drying on the mantel. This is 1 story behind the reason children still hang stockings up on Christmas Eve.
