As you might have already figured out, I have a thing for traditions. I think traditions make all the wild and crazy things that happened throughout the year melt away. The familiar always has a way of being so comforting.
This Christmas was no different in the ritual sense. I got the whole house up before the sun even thought of rising (actually it was a little later than normal this year due to the guests in the house). We opened gifts one by one. And then headed to my Aunt and Uncle's house for the Studaker Christmas.
A few new traditions have been added since Mark was added to the family. He had to bring a few of his English traditions along with him. One of those traditions is the Christmas Cracker. A cracker consists of a piece of cardboard wrapped in a brightly decorated twist of paper, making it resemble an oversize sweet-wrapper. The cracker is pulled by two people. The split is accompanied by a small bang produced by the effect of friction on a chemically impregnated card strip. Inside the cracker is always a paper crown, a toy or trinket, and a joke.
This year Hilary and Mark brought with them the luxury Christmas Crackers. What makes a luxury Christmas Cracker different from the ordinary Christmas Cracker? Well instead of a thin, colored paper crown, you get a nice shinny, gold paper crown. Instead of a bad joke on a scrap piece of paper, you get a bad joke that has a border around it. And finally, instead of a useless toy like a fake plastic finger tip complete with a long red finger nail; you get the ever coveted, strong, durable, red shoe horn. Every girls dream, let me tell you!
Family Introductions~
From L to R: My cousin Kaitlin, Aunt Debbie (mom's sister), Uncle Tom, Aunt Lynda, Uncle Tim (mom's brother), Hilary, Mark, and me.
Nathan (my cousin) and his wife Olivia
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