It was Christmas and we had a number of long-term patients in our ICU. This was sometime in the 1970's.
Years ago we did not have longterm acute care facilities, and we kept our patients in the ICU for a longer period of time.
I also think the staffing was better back then and we definitely had less paperwork than we do today.

At the time, I was working 8 hour shifts in the evening which left time at home during the day when my children were young. I loved to sew little dresses and skirts for them and always had bits of leftover fabric.

I decided it would be nice to make Christmas stockings for all of our patients to hang on their IV poles, and I got busy sewing. I purchased white felt for the top of each stocking and wrote their name in glittery letters. All the nurses in the unit wrapped up simple little surprises... a fragrant bar of soap, powder, a little book, a tiny sample bottle of perfume, etc.
We made up some extra stockings if there should be new admissions.

When I look back, it amazes me that we had the time to do this.
Perhaps we had more energy working 8 hour shifts as opposed to 12 hour shifts.
We definitely got to know our patients better as we had more time to spend with them and we felt good to be able to give them this little surprise on Christmas day.