The funny custom of the small, green Christmas cucumber has been on everyone's lips for a few years now. Who doesn't know it, who doesn't have it? It's still popular - no question about it. Nevertheless, in 2023, the Christmas tree seems to have been mostly animalistic.

Early January, the big season is over, the flood of parcels has receded into a rippling, quiet ebb. Planning for next autumn is imminent. But before we move on, in keeping with the motto "after Christmas is before Christmas", one thing in particular is always exciting: looking back. Analytical, curious, forward-looking. Which character did particularly well in 2023? Who won the most hearts? Who outperformed the others and was the most convincing?

The answer became clear this year in November and December, or rather, could be felt as figure after figure left our warehouse wrapped in tissue paper: the white shepherd dog, shimmering matt, sitting upright and with a funny glittery gold-trimmed red bobble hat. He was an early rival to tried and tested classics such as the doctor's hat and the oyster with pearl, and eventually even overtook them in victory.

Closely followed by another animal friend: the little penguin, clumsy, funny and also glittering, came in second place with a proudly swelling tummy.

Small but nice and apparently also a new, secret decoration star is the peanut, which is only 3.5 cm tall and looks quite real. Of course, we're not stopping there: both the green broccoli and the Easter-compatible carrot gave the Christmas trees a real freshness boost. And in addition to the cucumber, a (very pretty) plum has also been hanging on the Christmas tree more and more this season.

Also much loved, but split into several individual items due to the variety of colours: the silky, shimmering wool, which caused a real hype on our Instagram account.

And for the foodies among us: the most popular biscuit, alongside the perennial favourite of the little gingerbread man, was the Bismarck donut.