The Christmas Tree Pickle...

I have one last funny Christmas story to share. Before I go on, I have to say that it has become very apparent to me since living over here, that you truly can't believe everything you hear or read. The news is often (not always), but probably more often than not, slanted. It really is important to question everything! Anyway, so here goes the story. We have had many American friends over the years (When we lived in the U.S.) that follow "an old German tradition" where you hide a pickle in the Christmas Tree. The legend says that the pickle is the last thing to to go on (and be hidden in) the tree. On Christmas Morning, the child that finds it will receive an extra gift from St. Nikolas. When we first moved over here, we asked many of our German friends about it. No one seemed to have any idea abut this "old German tradition". Later, as we learned more about German tradition, there are definitely faulty facts about this story: one being that Germans do not celebrate or even open Christmas gifts on the morning of the 25th and two, St. Nikolas comes on December 6th, not on Christmas Eve (like Santa does in our culture). After realizing that it isn't a tradition in Bavaria, I chalked it up that maybe it is a tradition elsewhere in Germany - and then I totally forgot about it. Fastforward to Christmas this year... we received a beautiful card and gift from one of my best friends here. She gave us "pickle" Christmas ornament with a funny handwritten card that explains that the "Old German Christmas pickle" tradition/legend, is in fact just a complete made up story from America. I laughed out loud when I realized that she had remembered our inquiry so long ago and it had a lasting impression on her. I got such a kick out of it that she was able to find a pickle Christmas ornament (but of course, it came from a very touristy store - catering to foreigners). So funny!!!! A fabulous reminder that you truly can't believe everything you hear or read :-)

Our beutiful new (and very funny) Christmas ornament :-)