My folks will not be at all surprised that I bought this ornament. Pickles were the main part of my diet growing up. Dill, of course. (I wouldn't waste my time eating those sweet pickles.) Remember those HUGE individually packaged dill pickles that they sold at the 7-Eleven? Yep. Those were the best.
Ahhhhh.... Anyway, that's not the reason I bought this ornament. It's all about tradition. A few traditions, in fact. Our Christmas tree is not a show piece. It's not a perfect, expensively decked out, museum quality, "stay back or you might accidentally touch something" sort of tree. It's a family tree. The tree, itself, has seen better days. Russ and I bought it for our first Christmas together, almost 20 years ago, and it wasn't expensive even then. It's been put up, taken down, taped up, and shipped all over the United States. And now to Europe...Belgium. It's been grabbed by babies and climbed by cats. Some of the limbs are sagging. (One is held together by black electrical tape and a prayer.) Each year I say, "This is the last year for this tree, and after Christmas... I'm tossing it out." Each year it gets disassembled and put back in it's box. "Maybe next year," I say. It's tradition. It's ornaments are special as well. Some are hand crafted ones that the kids made at school over the years. Some have been given to us over the years by family and friends, each one chosen with care in remembrance of a special event, a memory, or because some one's favorite color was blue that year. Some of them we bought, as souvenirs from places that we have seen. I have a moose from Yellowstone, a space shuttle from The Kennedy Space Center in Florida, snow shoes from Alaska...the list goes on. Each year, as we take them out and put them on the tree, we get to remember those places, the things we saw, and the friends that we made there. It's tradition. I like ornaments with a story, as well. I picked up this pickle ornament on a recent trip to Germany. It has a tradition, too. In Germany, when the Christmas tree is decorated, the pickle is always put on last. The parents hide it in the green boughs among the other ornaments. When the kids were allowed to see the tree for the first time, whoever found the pickle first was given an extra gift left by St. Nicholas for being the most observant child. If there are several children in the family, sometimes more than one pickle is hidden in the tree. A large pickle for the smaller children, and a small pickle (harder to find) for the older ones. I like that, so the pickle was added to our collection of ornaments. Next year, when I take my tired old tree out of it's box, assemble it once again, and start decorating it, I'll remember this. It's tradition.
Belgians love to make a big deal out of Birthdays. They celebrate the ones ending with "0" with lots of crazy decorations, followed by a huge party. 
And they love to decorate with bikes. Maybe it's because there are just so many here. Bikes, that is. Not Belgians. Of course, the choice of decoration could be in direct response to the amount of beer consumed while decorating. This fellow could consider himself lucky that he didn't wake up to find his car duct taped to his fence. 
There are lots of lovely traditions in Belgium, but this has to be one of my favorites. They make a big deal out of Birthdays over here. Friends and family come out and decorate the Birthday boy or girl's yard so that everyone knows about their special day. The age is always shared, and lots of embarrassing pictures are plastered about.
It all in good fun, though. On the Friday or Saturday following the Birthday, everyone gathers at the decorated home and enjoys a big celebration that lasts late into the night. If there is one thing Belgians love to do, it's socialize. And they throw one heck of a party. You should see what they do when someone turns 18. Hmmmmm. I'll have to think about that one.
My folks will not be at all surprised that I bought this ornament. Pickles were the main part of my diet growing up. Dill, of course. (I wouldn't waste my time eating those sweet pickles.) Remember those HUGE individually packaged dill pickles that they sold at the 7-Eleven? Yep. Those were the best. Ahhhhh.... Anyway, that's not the reason I bought this ornament. It's all about tradition. A few traditions, in fact. Our Christmas tree is not a show piece. It's not a perfect, expensively decked out, museum quality, "stay back or you might accidentally touch something" sort of tree. It's a family tree. The tree, itself, has seen better days. Russ and I bought it for our first Christmas together, almost 20 years ago, and it wasn't expensive even then. It's been put up, taken down, taped up, and shipped all over the United States. And now to Europe...Belgium. It's been grabbed by babies and climbed by cats. Some of the limbs are sagging. (One is held together by black electrical tape and a prayer.) Each year I say, "This is the last year for this tree, and after Christmas... I'm tossing it out." Each year it gets disassembled and put back in it's box. "Maybe next year," I say. It's tradition. It's ornaments are special as well. Some are hand crafted ones that the kids made at school over the years. Some have been given to us over the years by family and friends, each one chosen with care in remembrance of a special event, a memory, or because some one's favorite color was blue that year. Some of them we bought, as souvenirs from places that we have seen. I have a moose from Yellowstone, a space shuttle from The Kennedy Space Center in Florida, snow shoes from Alaska...the list goes on. Each year, as we take them out and put them on the tree, we get to remember those places, the things we saw, and the friends that we made there. It's tradition. I like ornaments with a story, as well. I picked up this pickle ornament on a recent trip to Germany. It has a tradition, too. In Germany, when the Christmas tree is decorated, the pickle is always put on last. The parents hide it in the green boughs among the other ornaments. When the kids were allowed to see the tree for the first time, whoever found the pickle first was given an extra gift left by St. Nicholas for being the most observant child. If there are several children in the family, sometimes more than one pickle is hidden in the tree. A large pickle for the smaller children, and a small pickle (harder to find) for the older ones. I like that, so the pickle was added to our collection of ornaments. Next year, when I take my tired old tree out of it's box, assemble it once again, and start decorating it, I'll remember this. It's tradition.
