The thing that confused me is that they said they were selling "personalized stocking stands", not personalized stockings from a stand. Is this a typo?

It seems so. Fixed now!

I believe they meant stocking holders, like metal hooks to hang them from. People get these so they don't have to drive a nail through the wall or something. Perhaps they are engraved or painted.

Great, right after I post they re-word it.

That's what I thought too, killabee. I actually looked it up, and you can buy a stand-alone frames, almost like a quilt rack, with hooks at the top to use in place of a mantle. It's a somewhat unknown product, though, so I think the mods are better off calling it a Christmas stocking. It makes the FML easier to understand, even if it may not be technically correct.

I agree that's it's a slightly strange memorial, but I think the point is to acknowledge that the baby did exist, and is/was a part of her family. To this mother, at least, she lost a child, even if she never got to meet the baby.

I really, really doubt that. There's a culture of silence and shame around miscarriage and stillbirth. Women find it very hard to grieve, because people think they should "get over it", tell them it wasn't a "real" baby, and say things like "At least you know you can get pregnant" and "The baby was probably deformed, it's just as well". Seriously - go to any pregnancy and birth loss forum online, and you'll hear stories of people being absolutely callous and hurtful to women who've miscarried. This women may have been trying to break the code of silence and get another human being to acknowledge that her loss happened. Or she may have been having a rough moment and just responded in honesty. I HIGHLY doubt that she was trying to get some kind of social mileage out of losing a child. Have some compassion. There's no reason she should have prevaricated when the OP basically asked her what the stocking was for. A miscarriage is not something to be ashamed of.

I never said a miscarriage was something to be ashamed of. Those are your words, not mine. And, my conclusion has nothing whatsoever to do with compassion or lack thereof. Whatever happened to recognizing there is a time and place for revealing personal information? Sharing news of this nature to close friends and family -- absolutely. Revealing such news to a relative stranger (the clerk in this transaction) is inappropriate. For that reason, the woman was either socially clueless, on a fishing expedition, or was deliberately trying to make the OP feel bad. None of which is acceptable behavior. If the woman is so distraught as to reveal this personal information without recognition of social boundaries, she ought to seek a session or two with her pastor or therapist.

Listen to yourself. How are you *not* saying she should be ashamed of it? It is appropriate to respond to a question when asked: the OP asked her the meaning of the stocking, and the woman told her. Unless you feel that miscarriages are something to be ashamed of, why would you object to that? Our culture prefers not to talk about death, but guess what... it happens, and people shouldn't have to hide that truth from the poor innocent public. Every time you ask a woman how many kids she has, there's a possibility that she'll say "Three living" or "I had one son, but he died last year", or something else that makes you uncomfortable. Well, deal with it. Nobody should have to pretend they haven't suffered loss just so you don't have to deal with the answer. Just be grateful you haven't lived it. This woman didn't just march up to the OP and say "Hey, guess what, I had a miscarriage, do I get a discount?" - she simply mentioned her lost child in response to a question. Was it personal? Of course, just like telling someone how many LIVING children you have is personal. Do you find that inappropriate too? Judging by the commemorative stocking, this woman clearly didn't want to sweep her lost child's existence under the rug, and good for her. If more people shared their stories of miscarriage, maybe fewer miscarrying women would feel like social lepers.