Sunday’s are always busy for me – that’s the day to do
laundry, vacuum (ick), dust, scrub and clean.
This past Sunday included those things . . . and . . . mowing (oh my god, the leaves are
practically up to my knees!), and deciding about Christmas decorations.
OK – back up a bit here.
Starting in 2010, putting up a tree and anything else became a mental argument
– did I really want to?? a lot of work .
. . had to put it all away again . . . Bah Humbug! But I did put up a very small tree and pulled
out a few of the many ornaments in those first years after. Why?
Because, for me, they evoke happy memories.
Fast forward to today.
On Thanksgiving day, this sprouted up in my living room. Well, actually, my very tall grandson put it
up for me. And, it just stood there
until Sunday.
Saturday, I started bringing in these . . . . .
And by Sunday, taadaa
To me, unpacking ornaments if like – uhmmmm – opening a
treasure box or time capsule. Along with
each ornament comes a memory of when and who and where.
One year I discovered the Legend of the Christmas
Pickle.
In
the 1880s Woolworth stores started selling glass ornaments imported from
Germany and some were in the shape of various fruit and vegetables, including
pickles. 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 the first child to
find the pickle got an extra present.
Then,
another suggested origin is that the tradition came from Camp Sumter during the
American Civil War. The Bavarian-born Private John C. Lower had enlisted in the
103rd Pennsylvania Infantry, but was captured in April 1864 and taken to the
prison camp. As the story is told, on Christmas Eve, starving, he begged a
guard for a pickle. The guard provided the pickle, which Lower later credited
for saving his life. After returning to his family, he began a tradition of
hiding a pickle on their Christmas tree each year. And still another story is a Victorian era
tale of St. Nicholas saving two Spanish children who were trapped in a barrel
of pickles by an evil innkeeper.
Probably – it’s all a myth and most likely an 1880 ornament
salesman with a lot of spare pickles to sell, invented any or all of the legends of the Christmas Pickle!
Okay - just a few more to share
Some are old
Some, not so much
Some are covered with
beads
Some just a little
(strange?different?odd?) unique!
Some were made by
little hands
Some remind me of
people now gone to the Summer Lands.
Aunt Doll
Carol
Mom
Dad
Michael
Take care – Ho Ho Ho
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