Oh, the Christmas Pickle. My nieces and nephew had that tradition and now they all have their own pickle for their tree.
I wanted to keep the stocking tradition going like you did DixieDolls, so when my children all "knew" we drew names and I gave each $20 to spend to fill a stocking. My best tale was when I took my son who was may be 7 or 8 to Jewel Osco to shop for his sister's stocking. He calculated very carefully and picked out special little things that would please her. But at the check out he was over his $20 limit. I could see the tears in his eyes because he had chosen so carefully and each little gift was aimed to please. It was breaking his heart but he reached out his shakey hands to put back a pair of pink bunny scuffs/slippers that had bunny faces and ears on them. He was ready to sacrifice. Before we both were in tears, I gave him the extra money to to buy the bunny slippers, of course. She wore them to shreds and found them again in adult size and wore them to college. (This tale is not for the contest but just because it popped into my head tonight. Love Christmas so much. )