What is the price of tradition?
What is it about Christmas that makes us want to celebrate in the same way year after year? Things change, of course. Kids grow up, get married and have to divide their time with in-laws. The grandchildren turn into sulky teenagers, and faces are missing from the table. TV commercials set unrealistic expectations with happy families arriving at Grandma's house in the snow and secular Christmas music has been playing since before Halloween! As a British transplant in the USA, there are certain times when tradition becomes important to me. Christmas is one of them. My children grew up with certain British customs that their friends may have thought peculiar. The first one that comes to mind is the Christmas cracker. It isn't something you eat, but a party favor that snaps when you pull it. The Christmas cracker is a Victorian invention, dreamed up by a gentleman named Tom Smith. The company he founded still makes and sells crackers. When two guests pull on either end of ...
