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iKnifeCollector 12 days of Christmas

Our 12 Days Of Christmas contest has been generously sponsored by TSA Knives.

There will be 2 ways to enter.

1) Post to the discussion for each of the 12 days

2) show us how iKC is celebrating the season in your home or work environment (creative use of hat pins maybe?)

I will open this contest discussion on December 13 and the winners name will be drawn on

December 25th!

Tags: 2013, December, Knives, TSA, contest, iKC

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Replies to This Discussion

FeaturedPermalink Reply by Charles Sample on December 20, 2013 at 20:02

Oh CHRISTmas Tree...............

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In MemoriamPermalink Reply by Terry Ray on December 20, 2013 at 21:36

Cherry Ray said:

ctually, there are 12 ornaments-

There is a German tradition that a new couple's Christmas tree should include 12 special ornaments to ensure their happiness during the coming years. Package the following ornaments in a special box for young couples in your family!

1-House for protection

2-Rabbit for hope

3-Teapot for hospitality

4-Bird for joy

5-Rose for affection

6-Fruit Basket for generosity

7-Fish for Christ's blessing

8-Pine Cone for fruitfulness

9-Santa for goodwill

10-Flower Basket for good wishes

11-Heart for true love

12-A glass grape ornament is also a German symbol of friendship. Giving this special ornament to a friend is a pledge of friendship, and makes a treasured keepsake as well.

Jan Carter said:

Day 7 Answer

The tradition of the Christmas Pickle has got to be one of the strangest modern Christmas customs in that no one is quite sure why it exists at all!

In the 1880s Woolworth stores started selling glass ornaments imported from Germany and some were in the shape of various fruit and vegetables. It seems that pickles must have been among the selection!

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 then the first child to find the pickle got an extra present. However, this seems to be a total myth! Not many people in Germany have even heard of the Christmas Pickle! (Similarly in Russia virtually no one knows the supposedly Russian story of Babushka!)

There are two other rather far-fetched stories linking the pickle to Christmas.

One features a fighter in the American Civil War who was born in Bavaria (an area of what is now Germany). He was a prisoner, and starving, he begged a guard for one last pickle before he died. The guard took pity on him and gave a pickle to him. The pickle gave him the mental and physical strength to live on!

The other story is linked to St. Nicholas. It's a medieval tale of two Spanish boys traveling home from a boarding school for the holidays. When they stopped at an inn for the night, the evil innkeeper, killed the boys and put them in a pickle barrel. That evening, St. Nicholas stopped at the same inn, and found the boys in the barrel and miraculously bought them back to life!

There is an old legend about St. Nicholas rescuing boys from a barrel but the barrel was originally holding meat for pies - not pickles!

So it's most likely that an ornament salesmen, with a lot of spare pickles to sell, invented the legend of the Christmas Pickle!

*****************Day 8 *********************

According to German traditions every Christmas Tree should include these 11 ornaments to ensure happiness, peace and joy for the coming year? What are they and what do they represent?

Attachments:

002.JPG, 1.3 MB

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In MemoriamPermalink Reply by Terry Ray on December 20, 2013 at 21:37

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In MemoriamPermalink Reply by Cherry Ray on December 20, 2013 at 21:51

Cherry Ray said:

ctually, there are 12 ornaments-

There is a German tradition that a new couple's Christmas tree should include 12 special ornaments to ensure their happiness during the coming years. Package the following ornaments in a special box for young couples in your family!

1-House for protection

2-Rabbit for hope

3-Teapot for hospitality

4-Bird for joy

5-Rose for affection

6-Fruit Basket for generosity

7-Fish for Christ's blessing

8-Pine Cone for fruitfulness

9-Santa for goodwill

10-Flower Basket for good wishes

11-Heart for true love

12-A glass grape ornament is also a German symbol of friendship. Giving this special ornament to a friend is a pledge of friendship, and makes a treasured keepsake as well.

Jan Carter said:

Day 7 Answer

The tradition of the Christmas Pickle has got to be one of the strangest modern Christmas customs in that no one is quite sure why it exists at all!

In the 1880s Woolworth stores started selling glass ornaments imported from Germany and some were in the shape of various fruit and vegetables. It seems that pickles must have been among the selection!

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 then the first child to find the pickle got an extra present. However, this seems to be a total myth! Not many people in Germany have even heard of the Christmas Pickle! (Similarly in Russia virtually no one knows the supposedly Russian story of Babushka!)

There are two other rather far-fetched stories linking the pickle to Christmas.

One features a fighter in the American Civil War who was born in Bavaria (an area of what is now Germany). He was a prisoner, and starving, he begged a guard for one last pickle before he died. The guard took pity on him and gave a pickle to him. The pickle gave him the mental and physical strength to live on!

The other story is linked to St. Nicholas. It's a medieval tale of two Spanish boys traveling home from a boarding school for the holidays. When they stopped at an inn for the night, the evil innkeeper, killed the boys and put them in a pickle barrel. That evening, St. Nicholas stopped at the same inn, and found the boys in the barrel and miraculously bought them back to life!

There is an old legend about St. Nicholas rescuing boys from a barrel but the barrel was originally holding meat for pies - not pickles!

So it's most likely that an ornament salesmen, with a lot of spare pickles to sell, invented the legend of the Christmas Pickle!

*****************Day 8 *********************

According to German traditions every Christmas Tree should include these 11 ornaments to ensure happiness, peace and joy for the coming year? What are they and what do they represent?

Attachments: