Christmas Tradition in Lithuania Meets the Bug

Hello! Today I'm going to be posting about something I bought while I was in Lithuania. I was in Lithuania for two years, I loved it, it was an amazing experience. I would defiantly recommend that you visit Lithuania if you are ever in Eastern Europe. The people there are always willing to help if you get lost. The history and culture is rich with stories and legends. Their cities have castles and forts, old cathedrals. It is a wonderful country.

I was able to be in Lithuania for two Christmas's. The Christmas of 2014 and the Christmas of 2015. It was a neat experience. I enjoyed experiencing a different culture and way of celebrating Christmas. One of the traditions that I really enjoyed is similar to one we have in my family. In my family we would always have a Christmas Eve program and everybody would perform something. It might be reading a story or poem. Playing a song on the piano, guitar, or violin. It is one of my favorite memories during Christmas growing up.

In Lithuania they have a tradition where on Christmas Eve the children have to perform something in order to receive their gifts from Grandpa Christmas (Santa Clause). Occasionally Grandpa Christmas even attended activities and parties. One year the branch of the church I was at in the city of Klaipėda put on a Christmas Activity. At the end of the activity, after celebrating the birth of our savior, the Christmas Grandpa came to wish the children a Merry Christmas. They according to tradition had to sing or perform for their candy. Usually the gifts that children receive are boxes of candy. So at Christmas time all of the grocery stores would have sections for different boxes of candy from different candy makers.

One day I was doing my shopping at the grocery store and as I was walking through the aisle piled full of boxes of candy for good little boys and little girls, I saw a very special box. It was a candy box in the shape of a bug. The description of the box even called it a beetle. It made me happy to think that really good little boys and little girls could be getting VW Beetles full of candy. What better gift could you ask for?

I am happy to report that I was good enough that the Christmas Grandpa brought me one for Christmas. The candy was good, but my favorite part by far was the box.

I'd love to hear from you in the comments below, what are some of the coolest Christmas themed VW things you have seen?