Christmas Crackers, 9th Day of UK Christmas

A Happy Christmas Reveler!

Christmas crackers are a British tradition at Christmas dinner or at yuletide parties. The cracker is a small cardboard tube wrapped in paper or foil to resemble a wrapped candy. Inside is a surprise, usually a toy or other small item. Pulling on both ends of the wrapper activates a minuscule firecracker that bangs as the cracker is pulled apart. The crackers also often contain a paper crown to wear and a piece of paper with jokes, trivia, and other interesting tidbits of information. Our crackers had suggestions for playing Charades. Here's what the contents of ours looked like.

Only one prize per cracker, though!

Here's a sampling of the jokes:

Q: What do you get if you cross a sheep with a kangaroo? A: A woolly jumper!
Q: Why did the microscope cross the road? A: To get to the other slide.
Q: Why did the chicken resign? A: He was being paid a poultry amount.

Here's a sampling of the trivia:

Q: Who won 2001's Big Brother? A: Brian Dowling
Q: What country gives London a Christmas Tree every year? A: Norway
Q: When was the Scottish battle of Bannockburn? A: 1314
Q: Why did the guy drown in a bowl of muesli? A: A strong currant pulled him in.

Wow, those are some tough questions if you didn't grow up here (if you're lucky, you get one of the occasional bonus jokes). The charades ranged from easy (Spider-man) to difficult (Wind in the Willows) to impossible (Unchained Melody?!?!?!). The children aren't old enough to play charades yet.

We enjoyed our Christmas crackers on Christmas day. Check out our enjoyment of the leftover crackers on the next day: