Stockings? Check. Presents? Check. Now how about a swim at Mattapoisett Town Beach on Christmas Day?

On Dec. 25, Helping Hands and Hooves, a Mattapoisett non-profit organization which advocates hollistic health care with therapeutic horseback riding lessons, hosted a fundraiser asking local residents to brave the cold for a Christmas day swim.

With light snow and water temperatures averaging 47 degrees,  54 volunteers showed up to the Mattapoisett Town Beach in an effort to raise money for the group.

According to Helping Hands and Hooves representative, Erik Dyson, this year's swm was the best yet.

"We started this about 11 years ago and last year it was only about 3 of us going in," Dyson said. "So to see this kind of turnout is really great."

Participants in the swim were asked to purchase a ticket for the event. The profits, Dyson said, will be going towards the programs that Helping Hands and Hooves provides for those in need of physical therapy.

For Mattapoisett resident Chris Lynch and his family, the decision to join-in was more a spur of the moment choice.

"We did it because we are crazy," Lynch said."We decided it would be a different way to celebrate Christmas, to say the least. We made the decision last night to do it and becuase it's for charity, it's for a good cause that we jumped in there."

Holly Francis, 16, was also driven to swim for the sake of fundraising.

"I did it because I believe in the cause and I go [horseback] riding so it means a lot to me," Francis said.

Old Rochester Regional High School student. Abby Hiller, said her track team participated in the swim.

"I would've felt like a coward if I hadn't done it," Hiller said. "But it was fun, cold, but fun."