Monday, December 12, 2011

"On Christmas night all Christians sing To hear the news the angels bring"*

Image from Tom Smith website
If you are an Anglophile like me, you are probably already familiar with the British tradition of Christmas Crackers at this time of year.

The famous Aunties introduced our family to crackers about 15 years ago. (There are some hilarious photos of us in the crowns that year. Those photos will NOT be making an appearance here. You now know that they exist; that's enough.) We couldn't figure out that year how to make them "crack" properly. (What we didn't know was that you aren't supposed to pull the cracker apart on your own; we have since realized that you are supposed to do that with a partner.)

I had been buying crackers for holiday festivities at my apartment at the Christmas Tree Shops ("don't you just love a bargain?"), but the crackers I got there were filled with this confetti that, no matter how many times I swept or vacuumed, would still turn up months later. I was looking for something a little less confetti-y. I had read somewhere (Twitter, maybe?) that you can often get really nice quality crackers at TJMaxx. I stopped by the one in my neighborhood the other night after work and was simply delighted when I found some gorgeous Tom Smith crackers. (Tom Smith holds the Royal Warrant from the Queen and makes the royal family's crackers.) I got a box in silver and also got some with a holly pattern. (It was a dozen for $10, which I thought was a very reasonable price.) I am going to try to go back and get one more box to bring home to share with the family on Christmas day.


* Lyrics from The Sussex Carol

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