Christmas crackers

No, not Ritz or Triskets, lol.

One of Michael's family Christmas traditions is the very English Christmas crackers. A cracker is set at each place. Each person grabs his own and crosses his arms to grab the one next to him, forming a complete circle. Everybody pulls and the crackers...CRACK!

There are different versions and I ended up with a more adult version this year. The trinkets inside were not quite as kid-friendly as most we've had in the past. I'll have to do a better search next year. Each cracker has a paper or foil hat, a joke and a prize. The hats must be worn all through Christmas dinner, jokes are read in turn and prizes are tried out.

It is sometimes a bit difficult to find crackers in the US, but it is definitely a tradition we love in our family.