Our fourth and final weekly gift for watermelon lovers is one that’s sure to bring back lots of memories for anyone born before 1980. It’s a watermelon pencil sharpener ($7.69 on Amazon)! I’ll give it away to one commenter chosen at random this month.

I say it’ll bring back memories for anyone born before 1980 because, quite frankly, I’m not sure if children of the 90s and today even use pencils any more. If they do, they probably use mechanical pencils, which makes that thing mounted on the wall at the front of the classroom pretty much obsolete.

Remember using those pencil sharpeners in classrooms? You always knew which classrooms had a good sharpener and which ones didn’t. The good ones would give you a perfect point every time, with only five or six smooth turns of the handle. The bad ones would wobble and break the point of the pencil, requiring yet another sharpening, which would reduce your brand new #2 pencil to a two-inch nub before you could say “Little Rock is the capital of Arkansas.”

I assume the watermelon sharpener being given away here today is a good one. I’m also assuming you actually own pencils that require sharpening. If not, you should run out and buy a box of 100 or so and spend a good hour sharpening each one to a perfect point. And don’t forget to blow on the end of each when you’re done. You don’t really need to do that, but it seems like an important part of the pencil-sharpening process.

UP NEXT: Tidings of Christmas cheer

I love dip. Ranch dip, french onion dip, nacho cheese dip. If you give me a chip and something to dip it in, there’s a 99.9 percent chance that I’ll be dippin’ it. And, yes, I do observe the golden rule about not double dipping. Unless I’m at home, and then I double dip like there’s no tomorrow.

If you love a good dip as much as I do, you’ll love this week’s prize: the watermelon dip bowl you see on the right (available on ChristmasTreeShops.com). The bowl is ceramic and comes with a matching watermelon-themed spreader knife.

I’ll choose one comment at random to win it. To get the conversation started, leave a comment with an answer to this question:

What’s your favorite chip AND your favorite dip?

UP NEXT: The best salad you’ll ever eat?

Depending upon where you live, any precipitation you might get this month will probably fall in the form of snowflakes, not rain drops. Oh, sure, some of you might get rain. Fans in Florida (shout out to the National Watermelon Promotion Board!) and other southern states probably won’t see much snow. Same with Texas, California and other warm states. For them, the song “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” has little or no meaning, and that, you have to admit, is a tiny bit sad.

I’m sure they’re not too heartbroken about it. After all, they’ll wake up on Christmas morning to a beautiful, sunny day and 60-degree temperatures right around the same time most of us in the northeast are cursing the winter chill and counting down the days until spring.

Either way, we all need an umbrella at some point during the year — even if Floridians need it a little less often — which is why I’m giving away the colorful watermelon umbrella you see above ($19 on FeelGift.com) as this week’s “gift for watermelon lovers” to one commenter chosen at random from all the comments left on the blog this month.

Like the website says, it’s great for rainy days, but it also doubles as a shady escape on sunny days. Another perk: You’ll never accidentally grab the wrong umbrella from the bin again, because there’s a pretty good chance that it’ll be the only red umbrella with watermelon seeds on it.

UP NEXT: A very jiggly recipe

I may have mentioned briefly in the past a peculiar-but-fun Christmas tradition involving a pickle hidden on a Christmas tree. And, yes, I know that’s not a pickle in the image on the right. (More on that juicy ornament later in this blog entry.)

For those who aren’t familiar, the Christmas pickle is a popular holiday game (mostly in America) that involves hiding a pickle on the family tree. The first child to find the pickle on Christmas morning receives an extra present or “good fortune” in the New Year. (Though I’m sure you can guess which option 99 children out of 100 would choose.)

It’s worth noting that the pickle is an ornament, and not a real pickle. If you find yourself without a pickle ornament, you can use a real pickle if you really want, but just be sure to find the pickle before it gets all shriveled…or before the dog finds it.

While the origins of the pickle tradition are unclear, many claim that it began in Germany, where it was known as Weihnachtsgurke. That legend has since been disproven, and many yuletide scholars believe the game got its start in the late 19^th century, right here in the United States.

Regardless of where its roots are, the activity is a fun one for kids and adults alike. At my house, we have a Christmas pickle on our annual tree, although, while last year’s pickle was dropped and broken, it was quickly replaced a few days later.

That leads us, in what is probably the longest segue ever on What About Watermelon, to the first of FOUR gifts I’ll be giving away here on the blog this month. It’s the watermelon tree ornament you see above ($13 on Amazon). I’ll choose one comment at random from all the comments left on the blog THIS WEEK to win this tree accessory, which means you’ll receive it before Christmas!

UP NEXT: Some of the best watermelon-themed “adult” beverages

Watermelon is awesome — we all know that. I’ve written in the past about how the Japanese love watermelon so much that they give it away as gifts and display expensive square watermelons in their homes as decorations.

They’re not the only ones who appreciate the gesture of a good watermelon. It’s customary for Russian cosmonauts to also receive watermelon (among other fruits) after missions in outer space. Above is cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev being showered with fruit in September after returning to Earth from a five-and-a-half month space mission.

If it sounds like a pretty underwhelming gift for someone who spent half a year in a weightless environment, you’d be right, but the fruit has practical benefits, too. After six months of dining on rehydrated astronaut food, even something as ordinary as a watermelon can be a pretty awesome treat.

I can relate, too. I’ve never spent six months in outer space, but I did serve in the Navy on board a nuclear submarine. We’d often spend six months or more at sea, and while our dining options were slightly better than an astronaut’s (although that’s debatable), we also didn’t have the luxuries of fresh watermelon during our voyages under the sea.

When we finally returned to our home port, things like a bowl of ice cream, a fast food burger and a slice of watermelon were like a meal in a four-star restaurant. So, welcome back, Mr. Russian Cosmonaut, and enjoy that watermelon!

UP NEXT: A Thanksgiving drink the kids will love