Last year was the first time I had ever heard of the Christmas pickle. My son's teacher was planning on teaching about Christmas traditions all over the world. She mentioned that her lesson on Germany would be about the Christmas Pickle. I spent over eight years in Germany and I had NEVER heard of the Christmas Pickle. (I expected her lesson to be about St Nick day, Christkindl, ect.) So I had to google it. And I found the story interesting. MAybe you are already familiar, but I thought I'd share. Probably an exaggeration and not altogether true, but fun non the less. Apparently a man was imprisoned during the Civil War and asked for a pickle before he died. A guard took pity on him and gave him a pickle. It sustained him and he credited it with helping him survive. He then started to hide the pickle for his children to find and bring them good fortune. (http://americustimesrecorder.com/local/x489050166/The-And... ) ( Apparently an ornament company in Germany heard this story and started to make hand blown glass pickles and telling the story to promote sales??? Hence, the German connection). I love the idea though. What a fun tradition and fun way for kids to really appreciate the tree and all the ornaments.
We have lots of L. Christmas traditions. Nothing all that unique or extraordinary, but fun for us. My favorite regarding the tree is making popcorn strings with my kids. This is the first year we made it long enough to cover the whole tree, at six and three, the kids were able to really help with the task. We work on the strings while watching Christmas shows (the ones shown on ABC) and tie all the L. strings together to make one large string. The kids are so proud of that popcorn! ;) Merry Christmas!