The legend of the Christmas spider isn't a new on to me
Did I ever mention that DH is from Germany? 
As for our Christmas mouse, I'm not sure of all the details on how it started, but my family has been doing it since my grandmother was a girl. We have this little mouse that hugs the top of the tree that she made because of a little mouse that was in the field when they went to cut down a tree. It's kind of become a running theme in my moms Christmas decorations. Her advent calendar, and one of her nativity sets have mice.