Hi and welcome back. This is Zee Michelson. I want to thank everybody for tuning in to these little vignettes about the global holiday traditions around the world. They're little small stories. They're only about 10 minutes in length on this whole podcast. But I want to thank everybody for tuning in. And I also like to find out more about your holiday traditions around the world and what you do on the holidays. I know my family traditions date back all the way to Germany and to Ireland, and we do some strange things. You know, we have our Christmas Santa Claus that comes. Santa is always in the morning, never at night. So we open Santa's gifts in the morning. Now, believe it or not, this episode I'm going to talk about winter wonders and really, really strange customs. So here we go. Christmas customs worldwide. Alright, where are we going first? Let's hop on our broom. Oh no, we shouldn't hop on a broom. We're going to Norway. In Norway they do what's called hiding brooms. Well, Norwegian families hide their brooms on Christmas Eve. Why? Well, according to folklore, witches and evil spirits return that night. And the last thing anyone wants is for a witch to steal the broom and fly off into the night. So hide your brooms on Christmas Eve. I like to hide my brooms anyway because I don't like doing housework. So now here's a place that I haven't talked much about, and it's Venezuela. In Venezuela, they have roller skating to church. How healthy is that? That's a good exercise. Roller skating to church. In Caracas, Venezuela, thousands skate through the streets on Christmas morning. The city even closes roads so people can safely roller skate their way to church services. Isn't that nice? Roller skating. I wonder if it was cold there if they'd be ice skating. I'm sure there are places around the world that have ice, and maybe there is a tradition around there that they ice skate to church. Well, here we go. Now I've heard about this before, because like I said, uh my heritage is German and Irish. Has anybody heard of the Christmas pickle? Well yeah, in the United States, and perhaps Germany, the tradition goes like this. You hide a pickle ornament deep inside the Christmas tree. Deep inside. Now whoever finds it gets an extra present or good luck for the coming year. A lot of people say that this tradition started in Germany. The truth is unknown. But I'm gonna say it did start in Germany because of my German heritage. And it's still a fun hide-and-seek tradition in a lot of the American households. So remember, the Christmas pickle. And you can find a pickle decoration in almost every store these days. Now, what about Iceland? Oh boy, it must be really cold in Iceland. Brrrr But again, don't they have uh reindeer in Iceland? I gotta look. Now Iceland has thirteen mischievous trolls known as the Yule Lads. That's right, thirteen mischievous trolls called the Yule Lads. That's interesting in itself. Each night for thirteen days, these mischievous trolls will visit children. Good kids will get candy left in their shoes. However, naughty ones, if you're bad, you're gonna get a rotten potato. A rotten potato. So each lad has a unique personality from a door slammer to a sausage swiper. So again, you remember the Yule Lads, they have unique personalities. From door slammers to sausage swipers. So if you hear your door slam in one of those 13 days, the Yule Lad just visited. Well, thank you again for speaking with me and listening to me. And I keep asking for this. I would love to hear your Christmas traditions. Send it to my email. That's zmichelson at gmail.com. And remember, Z is spelt Z-E-E. So from the strange to the spooky and full of charm, these traditions prove Christmas is anything but ordinary. Now I'm gonna have a little bit more before the season ends. So stick around for my next adventures of these Christmas traditions. Thanks for listening today. This is Z Michelson, and remember what I always say shoot for those stars, and if you only reach the moon, at least you made the trip. Thanks for listening. Have a very happy holiday season.