Family Ritual

One of my family’s rituals on Christmas Eve is that my grandmother buys things we call “poppers”. They’re shiny red, green, silver or gold long tube-like things. You pull both ends at the same time and they pop open. Each one has a different colored paper crown, a stupid joke, that always seems to be a lot more hilarious to us than they actually are, due in part to the drinking of wine and poinsettia’s (champagne and cranberry juice), and a small, silly plastic toy. The toys range anywhere from a “fortune telling” red, cellophane fish that you hold in your palm, a little pink plastic hair clip, or a little cardboard number game. Everyone wears their paper crown during the entirety of dinner, which when thought of in reality, seeing my grandfather and my twenty-nine year old male cousin, is hilarious because it doesn’t matter if they end up with a hot pink crown, they still have to wear it. Before we even begin to eat we open our poppers simultaneously at the same time and the things inside usually go flying out onto our plates. It’s a holiday tradition I remember following for as long as I can remember. I always look forward to it because even though it’s such a silly thing, it means a lot to me. My Christmas Eve wouldn’t be complete without it.