Monday, December 01, 2008

It's the Great Pickle!


I have had several folks ask me what the deal is with the pickle ornament on our Christmas tree. So here goes... as far as I can gather my great-grandparents had a set of ornaments, 1 carrot, 1 banana, 1 pickle and I believe 1 apple. According to my mom, these ornaments graced my great-grandparents' tree. When I was in 6th grade, many years after their deaths and when my great-aunt had moved into a nursing home, my mom and I moved into their house, which meant that we inherited their Christmas tree ornaments. We loved them all (except the apple, which was broken way before I came along). We always placed the banana, the carrot and the pickle high up in the tree, right up front as they were so cute and so completely un-Christmas-ey! They were so funny among all the balls and garland and icicles! Anyway, one year we had a tragedy, one of our cats decided to climb the tree, which of course ended with a crash and the beloved pickle was shattered into a million pieces along with several other not so prized ornaments. We were devastated. Many years later, when I was in college, my Mom came across a place that had vintage pickle ornaments and bought one for each household. Since that day, the pickle has been proudly displayed in a place of prominence on our tree! It is and always will be my favorite ornament. Now if I could only find a carrot and a banana!

3 comments:

Little Mama said...

And yes I know that the flying pig in the lower left of the picture looks like it has giganto hooters already!

Ginny said...

What an awesome story! I love the pickle ornament. :)

I have a few ornaments left from my grandparents too. They are so cherished. I love tradition and family heirlooms. :)

Little Mama said...

Yeah, I wish this were the original pickle, but the sentiment is still there. I also have a wonderful nutcracker that belonged to hubby's English grandmother. That's a cherished one as well!