Christmas Crackers
by Liv | Published on December 23rd, 2009, 11:10 pm | Life
No I'm not talking about the rednecks in the local trailer park who happen to be white. It's a English tradition, and after a day schlepping around Toys R Us, World Market, Roses, & Harbor Freight Tools... it was kind of nice to realize that not only is our shopping done, but that we got a little swag for ourselves. In honor of some old friends of ours who introduced us to it, we got the last box of mince pies. In addition we got one of the last few boxes of Christmas Crackers at World Market.
If you're not familiar with what Christmas Crackers are, then you're not alone. (The U.S. seems to be primarily excluded from this tradition.) This is my first year too, and I'm completely excited. What's better is they're marked down, ($9.99) and only a few are left.... so rush on over to World Market tomorrow.
Basically they're a party favor that "pops" or "cracks" (from my understanding) as two people pull them apart similar to a wishbone. The large side wins the prize, or so on, and what not.
The back of the box wrote:Christmas Party crackers are a tradition dating back to Victorian times. In 1840 a sweet shop owner started selling sugared almonds with sentimental messages as love tokens. Watching his wood fire one Christmas, he saw a log burst into flame with a loud "crack". This inspired him to make a log shaped package for his sugared almonds that produced a surprise bang. The Christmas cracker quickly became popular at parties with toys and hats added. By the end of the 19th century it was an established Christmas tradition and now virtually every household in the United Kingdom has at least one box over the Christmas season.
I'll let you know how they turn out. As far as the mince pies go, Shannon has already burrowed a hole in the kitchen floor and hid the rest of the box, and screams "mine, mine, mine" when I go near them.
