is the christmas pickle a german tradition

The Christmas pickle is actually not a German tradition, but a modern American tradition. The Christmas pickle actually comes from America in the 1880s. The story goes that a family bought a Christmas tree and put it up in their house, but when they put the star on the top, they noticed that one of the branches had been broken. The family's children were devastated and were crying, so the father went out to try to find a new tree. But the only tree he could find was a broken one, so he brought it home and put it up in the house.