** Christmas Pickle Ornament

 Every Christmas morning, Mama hides a pickle ornament in the Christmas tree to find. It is one of my favorite holiday traditions and what better way to spread holiday cheer than to offer a piece of my childhood this season. 

Each pickle comes with a little card with this poem so the receiver will know how the Christmas pickle tradition works! I can even handwrite a holiday message so you won't have to mail a holiday card to your receiver!

Start a tradition that
will last year after year,
this little Christmas Pickle
brings lots of holiday cheer.

The night before Christmas
hang it on your tree
do it while everyone’s sleeping
as it must be done secretly

On Christmas morning
when you arise
the first one to find it
will get a surprise!

Where did this originate from?  There are several popular theories, none of which are definitive, but this is the version I like the most.

The story goes that a captured Union Army soldier was starving in a prison camp. On Christmas Eve, he begged a guard for a pickle. The guard obliged, which the solider said sustained him and essentially saved his life. After returning home, the solider began the tradition of hanging a pickle on his family’s tree each Christmas Eve.