Nope. Not My Tradition - Page 7

Cakers3 · ‎06-17-2015

@MorningLover LOL Who cooks eggs with a spoon.

Those pancakes sure look yummy, though.

"" Compassion is a verb."-Thich Nhat Hanh

sunshine45 · ‎03-09-2010

we have two christmas pickles......one very tiny, one larger.

the oldest person (my mom) in the family puts them on the tree on christmas eve.

christmas day we have a little "hunt" for the pickles after we have opened gifts. the person who finds the smallest one gets $20. the person who finds the larger one gets $10.

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"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." - Albert Einstein

sunshine45 · ‎03-09-2010

we never had an elf on the shelf when i was growing up and i had never heard of it when my kids were younger. whenever i have a grandchild i will definitely be starting the tradition though. i think it is cute and fun!

so many cute ideas for each day.

none of the kids or parents i know that do have this tradition find it creepy at all.

elf on shelf bananas.jpg

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"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." - Albert Einstein

teganslaw · ‎03-11-2010

I never heard of "Christmas pickles." It sounds like a type of scavenger hunt only with pickles.

Most of the families I know don't do "Elf on the Shelf." It seems that either one likes it or dislikes it; no in between. If I had children, I wouldn't start the tradition as I don't care for it.

"The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog."

Mark Twain

KingstonsMom · ‎03-09-2010

@teganslaw

I hadn't either until several years ago and out of curiosity, I looked it up:

The Christmas Pickle

The tradition of the Christmas Pickle has got to be one of the strangest modern Christmas customs, in that no one is quite sure why it exists at all!

In the 1880s Woolworth stores started selling glass ornaments imported from Germany and some were in the shape of various fruit and vegetables. It seems that pickles must have been among the selection!

Around the same time it was claimed that the Christmas Pickle was a very old German tradition and that the pickle was the last ornament hung on the Christmas tree and then the first child to find the pickle got an extra present.

However, the claim that it's an old German tradition seems to be a total myth! Not many people in Germany have even heard of the Christmas Pickle! (Similarly in Russia virtually no one knows the supposedly Russian story of Babushka!)

Some families now have the tradition of hanging the pickle on the tree, with the first person/child to find it getting a present. But it probably didn't start in Germany!

There are two other rather far-fetched stories linking the pickle to Christmas.

One features a fighter in the American Civil War who was born in Bavaria (an area of what is now Germany). He was a prisoner, and starving, he begged a guard for one last pickle before he died. The guard took pity on him and gave a pickle to him. The pickle gave him the mental and physical strength to live on!

The other story is linked to St. Nicholas. It's a medieval tale of two Spanish boys traveling home from a boarding school for the holidays.

When they stopped at an inn for the night, the evil innkeeper, killed the boys and put them in a pickle barrel. That evening, St. Nicholas stopped at the same inn, and found the boys in the barrel and miraculously bought them back to life!

There is an old legend about St. Nicholas rescuing boys from a barrel but the barrel was originally holding meat for pies - not pickles!

So it's most likely that an ornament salesmen, with a lot of spare pickles to sell, invented the legend of the Christmas Pickle!

The American city of Berrien Springs, MI (also known as the Christmas Pickle Capital of the World) has an annual pickle festival held during the early part of December.

The Christmas Pickle's History - WhyChristmas.com

You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.

RainyDayGal · ‎03-09-2010

I could never understand why some hate the elf and find him creepy. I think it's a great/cute idea and if I had kids I would definitely buy one. He has an impish look. :-)

skatting44 · ‎07-26-2019

@sunshine45

Thanks for ideas on what else to do with the Christmas pickle

x Hedge · ‎08-18-2016

Thanks for the info.

We had a pickle ornament. It went on the tree every year when i was growing up. Huh! I didn't know it had any special meaning. It was just an oddity, to me.

@KingstonsMom @sunshine45 @skatting44

Thank you to everyone who went to the trouble of posting pictures on this thread. Hilarious!!

Duckncover · ‎07-16-2021

Have always been creeped out by this entire concept, but I will give "Lucky Elvin" credit for keeping one of my 5 year-old granddaughters in line when he appeared...she was always so ugly to her twin sister definitely the alpha...so at least her sister got some peace while Elvin was around. My son set his alarm for 3 a.m. every morning to move Elvin around; he showed up by the bathroom sink, on the kitchen table, and sometimes

(and creepiest of all) inside her closet. She bought into it big time and her sister could t have cared less. I have a friend who leaves a long riddle or note from the elf for her two kids every morning also g with prizes.,,way too much work!