<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[Sithy Things]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[https://aggiesprite.wordpress.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[LC Aggie Sith]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://aggiesprite.wordpress.com/author/aggiesprite/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[The German Pickle]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>I have a quandary. This being a Hungarian-Puerto Rican family here, we obviously observe a faux German tradition*. We are extremely <em>hoi polloi </em>here. Anyway, tradition holds that you hang a green pickle ornament on the tree on Christmas Eve, and whichever child finds it, gets a special gift.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="https://aggiesprite.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pickle-ornament.png"><img data-attachment-id="1070" data-permalink="https://aggiesprite.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/the-german-pickle/pickle-ornament/" data-orig-file="https://aggiesprite.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pickle-ornament.png" data-orig-size="447,416" data-comments-opened="1" data-image-meta="{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;}" data-image-title="pickle ornament" data-image-description="" data-medium-file="https://aggiesprite.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pickle-ornament.png?w=300" data-large-file="https://aggiesprite.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pickle-ornament.png?w=447" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1070" title="pickle ornament" src="https://aggiesprite.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pickle-ornament.png?w=447&#038;h=416" alt="" width="447" height="416" srcset="https://aggiesprite.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pickle-ornament.png 447w, https://aggiesprite.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pickle-ornament.png?w=150&amp;h=140 150w, https://aggiesprite.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pickle-ornament.png?w=300&amp;h=279 300w" sizes="(max-width: 447px) 100vw, 447px" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align:center;">Found <a href="http://www.freshchristmastree.com/Inge-Glas_German_Pickle_Ornament.html">here!</a></p>
<p>This year, a complaint was filed by Little One against this so-called tradition. You see, her sister is 5&#8242; 8&#8243;, and her brother 5&#8242; 10&#8243;, and she is still in the &#8220;Pocket Venus&#8221; range of 5&#8242; 2&#8243;, putting her mad searching skillz at a disadvantage. In her opinion, such a tradition is severely biased against the shortest member of the family and, as such, should be banned.</p>
<p>I told her this is the Empire of Aggie™, and the ACLU has no jurisdiction here.</p>
<p>She wisely relented, but asked that I give consideration to her plight, which translated means that she whined until I told her to shut it. But since they all want a shot at the special gift, I have decided that the pickle shall be hidden somewhere in the living room, giving everyone even odds of finding it.</p>
<p>And giving me peace and quiet around here 🙂</p>
<p>*It is celebrated here in the US as a German tradition, but oddly, my friends in Germany have never heard of it, and I found no stories in Bavaria to account for it.</p>
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