Christmas Traditions – The Pickle

This is one of those odd traditions that no one seems to know why it is even a “thing”.

Once upon a time (as all good stories start) in the 1880s, Woolworths imported glass Christmas ornaments from Germany. Many of these ornaments were in the shape of a variety of fruits and vegetables, including the pickle. This was supposedly because (and again, as all good stories go) the Germans hung the pickle on the tree last, and the first imp in the morning to find the pickle got an extra present.

Funny thing is, not a single German had ever heard of such a silly story.

This has not stopped a single person who believes in Christmas pickles to stop putting them on the tree and following the not-real tradition of giving extra gifts to the first child to find it in the morning.

Since I am telling tall tales, here is another one or two.

A prisoner of war during the Civil War who had been born in Germany was starving. A soft-hearted guard gave the man a pickle, who then was given the will and strength to live by just eating a pickle. There is never any mention as to what side of the war he was on or whether it was a dill or a sweet gherkin. Or even how Christmas even fits into the story! The questions left to ponder on that story far outweigh the question of the pickle in the first place.

Another swell story involves two Spanish boys traveling home from boarding school when they stopped at an inn for the night. The innkeeper killed them and stuffed them in a pickle barrel. St. Nick was making his rounds and asked for a pickle. He discovered the boys and miraculously brought them back to life.
I told you they were tall tales.

Truth be known, it was probably some traveling salesman with too many darn pickles to sell who made up the story and created the strange tradition.

What really matters is that there are gifts to be given to everyone no matter whether they find the pickle first or not. We are here to show you some of the fine handmade gifts that you can give to your family and friends.

Green Verdigris Dragonfly Earrings

Victorian Style Treasures 

Handmade woven scarf

Andrea Designs 

Snowman Christmas Garland

WyvernDesignsHome

GREEN GEMSTONE NECKLACE

Linorstore 

Green Red Swarovski Christmas Earrings, Holiday Jewelry Ornament Gift

Shadow Dog Designs 

John Deere 317 Garden Tractor and 49 Snowblower Handmade Birch Wood With A Scroll Saw

Kevs Krafts 

Baby Boy Set, 4-Piece Set, 0-3 months, Afghan - Sweater - Booties – Hat

Crafting Memories 1 

Cat Lampwork Green Jade Aventurine Jasper Copper Long BOHO Necklace

Kats All That 

Hemlock Pagoda with Willow and Evergreen

Colleen Cornelius 

Wood Bracelet for Men or Unisex

Pretty Gonzo 

Spring Leaf Coaster Set of 3 in Greens

RSS Designs in Fiber 

Crocheted Irish Knit Sweater &Headband Deep Sage Infant 12 18mo

Magdalene Knits 

Buckeye Burl Resin

Exotic Wood Jewelry And

Green Crystal Earrings

The Singing Beader 

Handmade Lampwork Glass Beads, Nile Green Teal Dots Spree Shiny

Covergirl Beads 

Green and Yellow Handmade Polymer Clay Beads Focal 30mm

Blue Morning Expressions 

In addition to these fantastic gift selections, each of these artists have their own shops filled with more gift ideas, so be sure and stop and shop with each one.

If you see  something you like, buy it now or forever lose it as handmade gifts sell out quickly!

Shop from these additional countdowns and pages:
Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 1
Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 2
Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 3
Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 4
Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 5
Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 6

Christmas Traditions – The Candy Cane
Christmas Traditions – Christmas Carols
Christmas Traditions – Christmas Bells
Christmas Traditions – Christmas Candles
Christmas Traditions – Christmas Lights

Don’t see the perfect gift? Ask an artist to help you design something.

Shop now!
Julie2

Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 6

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Christmas Traditions – Christmas Lights

 

Oh, how they twinkle and shine. The first electric lights may have shown up as early as the first light bulb. A colleague of Edison by the name of Edward Johnson saw a string of Edison’s lights and created his own string of lights in red, white and blue. He hand-strung a strand of 80 lights and added them to his tree in his apartment. The year was 1882.

Edison being the ferret of exciting new ideas he didn’t invent immediately offered a published brochure offering lighting services for Christmas. His next get-rich-scheme was to rent lights to folks for the holidays. Of course, only the wealthy had electricity, so only the wealthy had Christmas lights; although, there is a story of a home in Montana in 1891 that was decorated with electric Christmas lights.

The cost for lighting your Christmas tree in the 1800s was approximately $2,000 in today’s funds.

President Grover Cleveland electrified the Christmas tree in 1895 and the White House Christmas Tree on the lawn was started in 1923 by Coolidge.

1903 brought us a more economical string of lights that had a price ticket of $12 or a rental price of $1.50. It was still expensive, and there were still many homes unequipped with electricity.

Other folks were working out their own Christmas lights, and one used telephone wire to string together a number of bulbs that were then put on a table top Christmas tree.

All of these people stringing together lights was supposed to eliminate the fire hazard of placing candles on the tree. After a hospital burned to the ground due to a lighted Christmas tree in 1908, insurance companies lobbied for a law outlawing the use of candles on the tree.

Another pioneer in the Christmas light industry was a young man from Spain who had recently transplanted to New York. His family made lighted bird cages, and he had the idea of coloring lights and creating a strand of lights for the tree. He and his brothers started the NOMA Electric Company and manufactured strands of lights for decorating the tree. They were pioneers with circuitry that allowed them to create safe lights for indoors, as well as outdoors.

The record for the most lights on a Christmas tree is 194,672 on December 10, 2011 in Belgium, which made the Guinness book of world records. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/most-lights-on-a-christmas-tree/

Here are some of beautiful Christmas and holiday gift ideas from our artists that are sure to light up your room.

Christmas Cat Butt Coasters

Wyvern Designs

Labrador Retriever Christmas Tree Ornament Handmade From Birch Wood

Kev’s Krafts 

Emerald Green Swarovski Crystal Earrings Vintage Rhinestone Crystal Vintage Teardrop Pendants

Magdalene Jewels 

Blue shambala bracelet, blue beads macramé bracelet, boho chic

Andrea Designs 

Knit Scarf, Cranberry Black

Crafting Memories 1 

Dangly Owl Earrings

Pretty Gonzo 

Green and Red Potholders or Hot Pads Set of 2 - Handmade Potholders

RSS Designs in Fiber 

Blue Flower Earrings

Shadow Dog Designs 

Red 3-Strand Memory Wire Cuff Bracelet with Dangles

Kats All That 

Yellow Gray Large Bead Chain Earrings Long Dangling

The Singing Beader 

Autumn, Earth tone nugget chips Tree of Life

Watercolorsnmore 

Hanukkah Menorah Dreidel Clasp Bracelet

lindab142

Handmade Lampwork Glass Beads, Medium Red Shiny Glossy 432g

Covergirl Beads

Yellow Flower Beaded Bracelets for Women with Chunky Beads

Blue Morning Expressions 

In addition to these fantastic gift selections, each of these artists have their own shops filled with more gift ideas, so be sure and stop and shop with each one.

If you see  something you like, buy it now or forever lose it as handmade gifts sell out quickly!

Shop from these additional countdowns and pages:

Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 1

Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 2

Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 3

Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 4

Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 5

Christmas Traditions – The Candy Cane

Christmas Traditions – Christmas Carols

Christmas Traditions – Christmas Bells

Christmas Traditions – Christmas Candles

Don’t see the perfect gift? Ask an artist to help you design something.
Shop now!
Julie

Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 5

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Christmas Traditions – The Candles

Like many traditions, it is hard to pin a time and place on the origination, but the tradition of lighting candles at Christmas continues to this day regardless of where and when it started.

Candles have been used in winter solstice celebrations to signify spring, and candles are at the center of Hanukkah, which is known as the Jewish Festival of Light.

Kwanzaa also uses a special holder called a kinara to hold seven candles that are lit to mark the winter festival.

Records from the Middle Ages indicate that a single large candle was used to represent the Star of Bethlehem. Jesus is often called “The Light of the World” by Christians.

A specially marked, traditionally white Advent candle is used to mark the days leading up to Christmas Eve. Generally, this candle is started on December 1st, and every night around dinner time, it is lit and burned until it burns down to the next day marked on the side of the candle. It is often placed inside a wreath or centerpiece on the table.

Candlelight services are held at churches everywhere on Christmas Eve where people gather to hear the story of the birth of Christ and sing carols.

There was a time that candles were used to decorate Christmas trees, but that tradition was abandoned once electric lights were available to light the tree.

Around the world, the Yule candle is used in Ireland, small oil burning clay lamps on flat roofs decorate the homes of Christians in Southern India and Chinese Christians hang paper lanterns on their Christmas trees. St. Lucia’s day celebrations in Sweden are also decorated with candles.

Another thing that brings light during this wonderful time of the year is the unwrapping of treasured gifts. Here are some handmade gift ideas that will light up the faces of the recipients, so let’s go shopping.

Metal seahorse kumihimo bracelet, glass lined metal beads, the seahorse bracelet

Andrea Designs 

Halloween Earrings, Pumpkin Earrings, Jack O Lantern Earrings

Wyvern Designs 

Halloween Crocheted Maryjanes & Headband Infant Size Pumpkin Buttons 9 12 mo

Magdalene Knits 

Tangerine Crystal Beaded Bracelet with Gold Love Link

Victorian Style Treasures 

Faceted MultiColor Fire Agate 18 inch Graduated Gemstone Necklace

KatsAllThat 

Extinguished Campfire Utah Mountain Camp Site Sticker

Colleen Cornelius 

Golden Sun Earrings, Amber Red Turquoise Boho Handmade Summer Jewelry

Shadow Dog Designs 

Beaded Bracelet, Seed Bead Jewelry, Orange and White, Gift for Her

MorganJewelryDesign

Fall or Autumn Table Centerpiece Decor

RSS Designs in Fiber 

Orange Fire Agate Statement Short Adjustable Necklace Large Gemstones

The Singing Beader 

Handmade Lampwork Glass Lentil Bead Set, Encased Apricot Raku Frit Silver Shiny

Covergirl Beads 

Bell With Burning Candle Christmas Ornament Handmade from Ash Wood

Kev’s Krafts

Fire Opal Swarovski Crystal Earrings and Necklace Set on Serpentine Chain

Blue Morning Expressions 

In addition to these fantastic gift selections, each of these artists have their own shops filled with more gift ideas, so be sure and stop and shop with each one.
If you see  something you like, buy it now or forever lose it as handmade gifts sell out quickly!

Shop from these additional countdowns and pages:

Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 1

Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 2

Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 3

Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 4

Christmas Traditions – The Candy Cane

Christmas Traditions – Christmas Carols

Christmas Traditions – Christmas Bells

Don’t see the perfect gift? Ask an artist to help you design something.
Shop now!
Julie

Help the Bahamians and One Word Keychains

Volume 16 Issue 10, October 2019

What's New in October?

Fall is kinda in the air. We were fortunate that we did not have to endure any hurricanes this season, but we cannot say the same for our beloved friends in the Bahamas.

This is what I ask of you this month.

Hurricane Dorian Bahamas Assistance

For those of you who do not know, I work for a publishing media group that has 15 weekly community papers, and part of our mission is to reach out to our communities and only print local news.

With the destruction of the Bahamas, we have teamed up with a local (as in right down the street from my office) group called Missionary Flights International.

Since not everything we want to donate can go, here is a PDF of the items that they can take. Here is the link. It will download a PDF file.

This group is taking donations over to the islands and in need of money and physical items. If you want to stop by the office and see me :) here is our address, as well as the story about the storm recovery efforts.


I would appreciate it if people would help me get this word around the world by sharing this story.

Thanks so much from me and the whirlwind of dirt that is Harry.

What’s New

Key rings: I am on a one word pendant beading kick with lots of beads wrapped and new pendants made.

Thimbles: It’s Christmas in Florida this month, and my collectible holiday thimble stash is now nine designs richer.

Greeting cards: I am working diligently to get my one word charms translated into greeting cards and cross stitch patterns in the works.

You will find all of my beads, canes and finished jewelry on my website. www.bluemorningexpressions.com
Until next month,

Julie


Things to Look Forward To:

New Products:

Leggings: My supplier has added a great legging line, so I have been experimenting with design and element placement. I have several in my store now and am working on peacock leggings designs.

Posters: I am working on my one word posters and wall hangings. There are also wood blocks to be added.

Bookmarks: I decided that some of my beads and images would translate nicely to bookmarks. Those are on the bench.

Countdown to Christmas 2019 Week 4

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter