Saturday, December 4, 2010

Setting the Mood with a Pre-Party Activity!

Tomorrow is the official first day of the "Love Finds You" Blog Party here at "Seasons of Humility!" The excitement is building!!! Are you ready to party?

To help kick-start the festivities and celebrate the holiday season, I thought it would be fun to share a Christmas tradition with you. It involves a pickle ornament and extra gifts, so read on to find out more!

The advertisement below featured on The German Way website gives a brief description of this Christmas tradition:

The basic idea is that the parents hide a pickle ornament in the tree, and whoever finds the green ornament among the branches and other ornaments receives an extra gift! In our family, though, we have more than one pickle ornament, so my sister and I both have a chance to win a prize. It makes the game a little less stressful that way, I'm sure. ;) Plus, my grandparents hide pickle ornaments for us in their tree, too, so I think it's safe to say we've been rather spoiled!

Anyway, would you like to try your hand at pickle hunting? I've hidden three pickle ornament images here on the blog somewhere. They could be on one of my pages, older posts, or right under your nose! But just to clarify--they are only on this blog. You won't find them in any links that take you away from "Seasons of Humility."

What is the extra gift you're aiming for? Whoever finds a pickle image first and tells me in the comment section where it was found gets 5 extra entries in the drawing for the grand prize package (to be described tomorrow on the first day of the party)! That means that if you happen to have extra time and somehow find all three of the pickle images before anyone else, you could get up to 15 extra entries in the drawing!!! Or there could be one person with 10 extra entries and another with 5 extra entries. Or three different people could end up with 5 extra entries each. You get the idea!

Believe me--the grand prize package is going to be awesome! So don't miss out on this chance to gain extra entries in the drawing! Plus, it's always fun to be the first to find something. ;) Don't forget that in order to get the extra entries you must say where you found the pickle ornament image on my blog (you can say what page/post or you can give the URL). Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions (or if you are in need of some hints...), as well. There are three images, so that means there are three chances to win! Here's what the image looks like (but note that this is not one of the three images you are supposed to find--this is just an example):


Happy pickle hunting! And remember to stop by tomorrow to join me for the first day of the "Love Finds You" Blog Party!!!

*All three of the pickles have now been found. Congratulations to Bluerose and Casey! Thank you for joining in the fun!*

11 comments:

Bluerose said...

Yah!! I found one @ the Sightseeing by the Seasons link. This is so cute!! :)

Bluerose said...

How clever!! I found another one @ Christmas in July: Day 4. I won't hog all the fun, though, so I won't find the last one. :)

Casey said...

Oh, this is such a fun idea! I want to try and find the other one, but can't seem to. :( And plus with the bazaar today, I don't have time to really search for it, but FUN idea!!!! See you later. :)

Casey said...

YAYYYYY! I spoke too soon cause I found the third one HERE: http://seasonsofhumility.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-review-of-love-finds-you-in-hershey.html

Woo-hoo!!!!!!!!!!!! Glad I clicked on a few more posts. :D

Renee (BlacknGoldGirlsBookSpot) said...

Do the pickles in the World Traditions picture count? LOL

Merry Christmas!!

XOXO~ Renee

Cher' Shots said...

Our family is of German heritage and we've been following this tradition for as long as I can remember. (which is a long time I hate to admit) The tradition has followed on down to each of my children. My mother still hangs the "OLD" pickle in her tree and her Great Grandchildren search for it on Christmas Eve.

Project Journal said...

This is really fun, Amber! And it gets people in the mood for your party.

Bummer that they've already been found though....some of us had to work at 7am this morning, so we couldn't be checking up on blogs : / That stinks...

Cher, how cool! I think it's neat that people still carry on this tradition.

Amber, if you wanted to add on a side note about this tradition in your interview, feel free. Although it would count under traditions technically lol....
Talk soon,
Hannah

Julia M. Reffner said...

OK, I'm too late for the pickles, but I have to comment on this. Chris' family does the "pickle" hiding and the winner gets a little prize...but in 2008 the prize was a diamond ring for Chris' brother's now-wife :)

Kav said...

I've never heard of this tradition and how fun you incorporated it into your blog. Love Julia's comment about that special pickle prize. That should find its way into a romance sometime!

Amber Holcomb said...

Good morning, everyone! I'm so happy to see ya'll here! :D

BLUEROSE: Way to go!!! You have *10* extra entries in the drawing for the grand prize package!!! Woohoo! :D Thanks for joining in the fun!

CASEY: Oh, I'm so glad you did click on a few more posts! I just had to hide a pickle with some chocolate... ;)

You have *5* extra entries in the drawing for the grand prize package! (And since you're helping to contribute to the grand prize package, if you do win, we'll split it up so that there will be two winners, if that makes sense!) ;)

Hope all goes well with the bazaar today!!!

RENEE: Sorry...but no. ;) Thanks for stopping by, though, and merry Christmas to you, as well!

See you at the party!

CHER: That is so special! Thank you for sharing about your family's tradition. :) I think it's such a fun one! And how neat that your mother still hangs the "OLD" pickle for her great-grandchildren! :D

HANNAH: Oh, I'm sorry you had to work this morning and couldn't join in the fun. :( But don't worry! There will be lots more fun to come during the party this week!!! :D

And sure! It would be fun to include a bit about this tradition in the interview! :) Since it's the weekend, I think I can finally answer those questions and get them back to you... I'll shoot for tonight, girl! ;)

JULIA: I'm so glad you left a comment anyway! That is such a romantic story!!! :D *sigh* Thank you for sharing!

EVERYONE: See ya'll at the party!!!

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

KAV: I'm glad I could share this tradition with my readers! :) Isn't Julia's story so cute? I definitely agree that it should go into a book! ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

~Amber