By Epiphany, we have the tree and the
lights down, but we have a tradition of finishing the Christmas food
that has lasted though the holidays: cranberry sauce, dips,
fancy cheeses and crackers from the Intellectual Deli, the popcorn left in those giant tins, those cookies from
Denmark that also come in tins, and the last of the English
“biscuits,” that I get every year, along with the popping
crackers and plum pudding. Every year I put little boxes of Barnum's
Animal Crackers in the kids' stockings (like my mother put in mine and her mother had put in hers).
The kids don't like them and Ed says they're a waste of money, but I
tell everyone it's a tradition and that they shouldn't be
curmudgeons.
So there are always animal crackers
left. Cilla and Josh like to make the animals fight and dance around
the cocoa cups and then dive in. Betsey likes to say say they are
immature and tell me I'm letting them run wild. Well, at least she
doesn't call them big morons anymore.
But over the years, things have
changed. The boxes used to come with a string that you could use to
hang them from the tree. Not they just have paper handles as part of
the box. And this year, the animals are free range. They used to be
in cages in a circus train car. Ed pointed this out and called it “another victory for animal rights.”
I said it was a good thing, but I felt kind of bad about it, not to
mention the string. Betsey snorted, Josh patted my shoulder, and
Cilla says she's going to write to the company about the string.
