Has anyone ever actually gotten coal for Christmas?

My son was a real brat one year and I put a bow on a bag of charcoal. He didn’t get his presents until late that day. He was a real brat though!! Now we know he’s bi-polar, but that’s still not an excuse for the out of control behavior he was displaying that year. I think he was suspended twice and that was in grade school!!

when i was 6 or 7, i cant remember exactly, my uncle got some coal wrapped it up and set it under the Christmas tree for me to open. I was totally stoked to unwrap his gift Christmas morning because he ALWAYS gave me awesome presents (and still does). When i unwrapped it i was totally mortified! But then after getting a good laugh out of my reaction he pulled out another present and gave it to me, this one thankfully was not coal :D

Yes.

And I threw it in a fake fireplace and asked for my real present, which I then received.

(this was at a friends house.)

No, lol!

I have always been opposed to using gifts and loving acts as threats and extortion. When my little boy was 4, he started acting terrified when we put up the tree about two weeks before Christmas and crying and saying he didn’t want Christmas to come. And here I was busy knocking myself out to plan some wonderful surprises for him. I was totally thrown. It took a lot of digging, but finally I found out that his babysitter had been telling him he was bad and was just going to get coal in his stocking. I was furious. I wanted my children to experience unconditional love and not to think of Christmas as their first exposure to the criminal justice system.

My parents used to put this grape bubble gum that came in the shape of coal in my stocking. I would pull it out of the very bottom of the toe Christmas morning, and they would say something to the effect of, “That must be Santa’s way of warning you to be good next year.”

Also, I made coal cookies for a Christmas party I attended last night, and all of my friends got very indignant.

I really don’t think anyone ACTUALLY recieves coal for christmas. The only reason i could think of someone getting coal for christmas is if its a joke. I mean come on, what kind of evil parent would ruin a child’s christmas? Thats just cruel. If this really has happened to anyone though those parents really have no heart. No matter how bad my kid is (when i have one) there is no way i would give him/her coal for christmas.

Yes, extremely compressed and heated coal——a diamond ring. Lol.

At the age of 7, I lived in Germany where there are deep Christmas traditions. One of which is to leave your boots out on Dec 5th (St. Nick Day). That year after a particularly troubled Autumn I received a lump of Charcoal and and a bundle of switches. It had the intended effect…

I got a lump of chocolate “coal” today.It was a thoughtful little gesture and it put a much needed smile on my face :)

My nephew almost got a stocking full of coal, but got a bundle of switches instead. He had people offering to help him use them all day.

I know this is an old thread, but I literally JUST bought some coal for my kids today!

My sister thought you’d get a hole in your stocking for the longest time!
I wonder where the “coal” thing got started. I’ve thought about it, and maybe, during times of fuel shortages, coal was actually a real present?