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 the cracker, it breaks with a snap. The cracker traditionally contains a paper hat (to be worn throughout the meal) a small toy and a really bad dad joke. When our future son in law ate Christmas dinner at our house for the first time, he was mystified by this odd behavior but gamely played along and wore his paper hat throughout the meal. 

In recent years, crackers have been easier to find and I bought them at Target for several years in a row. Until last year. I went to Target and looked for a box of crackers but couldn't find them. I asked a number of very young staff members who had no idea what I was talking about. When I finally found someone who  knew what they were, he dropped the bombshell: "Oh no, we aren't allowed to carry those in the store because they are fireworks."  Fireworks??? He stuck to this line despite the fact that the store had been selling them for years.  Some new government regulation, perhaps?  Heaven knows!  I ended up buying a "do it yourself" cracker kit; they were a lot of work and a terrible substitute. This year, I broke down and ordered "snap-less" crackers from Amazon.  They are made in China instead of Britain and proudly proclaim that they are "safe for children."  This from the country that invented fireworks!

That was last year. This year's attack on British tradition involved a jar of  mincemeat.  Americans generally don't care for mincemeat, which is a concoction of dried fruit, suet and brandy or rum. In a large pie, it can be overpowering. The Brits make it into individual, bite-sized tarts which are delicious. My grandson Mike, in particular, adores them, and, since his birthday is just before Christmas, I always make some for his family party. This year, mincemeat was nowhere to be found. Jars were available on Amazon but cost around $40! Puzzled, I Googled "why can't I find mincemeat" and discovered that JM Smucker, who owned Nonesuch mincemeat (the biggest brand) had decided to drop it. Dried suet is not available in the USA but I found a recipe which used butter instead and I purchased as many of the ingredients as I could and made a batch. It needed Allspice, which I didn't have, so I rushed to the local store and bought some. On the shelf beside it was a jar of mincemeat!  So now, I have a back up if the homemade stuff tastes as bad as I think it might. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Christmas is two days away; most of the gifts are bought and wrapped but there are still things to do. In the middle of all the busyness, we need to stop and remember what this festival is all about. Despite it's pagan roots, for Christians, it is about the birth of our Saviour. Before the turkey and trimmings, the gifts and sweet treats, we will go to church and celebrate the real meaning of Christmas.