An Ornament Story: The Pickle

Today is the birthday of one of my favorite people in this world, my dear friend Lisa Jewett.  In honor of her special day, today's ornament story concerns a special (although a little strange!) gift she gave us back in 2005.  Here is the legend of The Christmas Pickle!

According to Lisa, the idea of putting pickles on Christmas trees goes back to Germany during one of the World Wars.  Soldiers marching through the German countryside would often enter house looking for food and take all that a family might have. One Christmas Eve a family, trying to save some food for themselves, hid some pickles in their tree, where they went unnoticed by the scavengers.  As a side note, we do not know if these were individual pickles or the entire jar.  In any case, the family had a pickle feast!  Over the years that followed it became tradition to hide one pickle in the tree on Christmas Eve as a reminder of that night. The child who could find the pickle on Christmas morning would receive an extra gift and much good luck for the coming year.  The Christmas Pickle became a symbol of blessing and prosperity.  So when Lisa presented us with our very own pickle ornament, we hung it on our tree.  Even though it seemed quite odd...

We lost touch with Lisa for a while after we left Tampa, but today she is a part of our family. She rides to church with us, eats Sunday dinner with us, and is the reason we love Taco Tuesdaze so much. Marilyn and I had dinner with her just last night.  That odd pickle hanging on our tree is a reminder that we have indeed been blessed by her friendship and her love.  Happy Birthday, Lisa!  And may Santa bring you a case of pickles this year!

Merry Christmas, one and all!