Although this is the season to be jolly and grateful and stuff, do you ever feel, well, a little disappointed? Today we're going to address that dirty little secret of the holiday season, that possibly our expectations are never truly met because our expectations are wholly unreasonable and maybe we're missing the bigger picture. To that end, today's picture is
this...
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| Such is Life Weedon Grossmith |
Haven't we all at some point looked inside our cracker and thought 'oh...' in a sad way? I get very disappointed over crackers, why are they always such utter rubbish?! I should make my own, at least I am guaranteed something that won't choke the dog/daughter or be utterly useless. I also think if I spent a bit more I would get a better class of cracker. There are times when I have been pleased to see the fortune telling fish, because at least that is mildly entertaining. Mind you, looking at this young lady, I think her cracker is empty. Now that is disappointing.
These are the 'London Superior Crackers' from Liberty and they cost £45. I would hope for more than a bad joke and a naff hairclip inside them. They are some of the most beautiful crackers I have ever seen and I'm not sure I would want to pull them. I'd rather just sit and look at them, but then I am a sucker for a bit of vintage.
Back to Mr Grossmith and his disappointing cracker. Weedon, or Walter Weedon, was the brother of George Grossmith, D'Oyly Carte star, and together they wrote the book
The Diary of a Nobody. Weedon had many and various careers, first as a painter, but then when that didn't pay, he moved to the stage and became a successful actor.
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| Grossmith as Jimmy Jinks in Baby Mine, 1911 |
I like
Such is Life because it makes me think about how easy it is to feel ungrateful and disappointed during a time of such utter riches. Something inside us becomes a child again, unappreciative of the bounty that surrounds us over the Christmas celebrations until small disappointments seem to overshadow the dazzling wealth of pleasures surrounding us. Like the little girl who ignores the glorious table full of the debris of a fabulous meal to examine the inside of her cracker, we tend to leave our blessings unnoticed to feel cheated by something that doesn't really matter. Life isn't an empty cracker, it's the overlooked good fortune.
I'm off to gaze covetously at the Liberty crackers, and I will see you tomorrow...
This year was the first year I actually decided not to purchase Christmas crackers. Because they are generally disappointing. If you end up buying the London Superior Crackers, please post a photo of their contents ... maybe it will renew my faith in crackers next year! :o)
ReplyDeleteIf anyone from Liberty is reading and would like to renew my lovely readers' faith in the wonder of crackers, I would be delighted to receive a box and display their majesty for all to see...
ReplyDeleteWorth a try.
Fingers crossed! :D
DeleteAs a transplanted Brit I spend a lot of time at Christmas trying to explain what a Christmas cracker is, and why the presents are naff (and what naff means) and why the jokes are horrible. New American family gamely wear tissue crowns while I set fire to that weird pudding thing and make them sing 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas'. Just shows how accommodating they are.
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised Christmas crackers haven't caught on over here in the USA. It's a lot of money for a little bit of crappy tat and some crepe paper. You'd expect Disney to be all over that.
The Liberty ones look very nice. If they gift you with some to review, you could do a blog giveaway! Yes, you could!
Now I am astonished! Do my dear Americans not cracker (yes, I did use it as a verb)? Really, there is enough disappointment to go round, and it is a chance for retailers to make more money! Heavens, as you say I would have expected to see Disney jump aboard that bandwagon. I must add an exception to the disappointment rule - many years ago, Boots did Wallace and Gromit crackers with little figures in them (I still have my Shaun the Sheep somewhere) and they were charming.
ReplyDeleteIf Liberty do send me some crackers, I will certainly consider it. Honest, I will...
I have black and silver crackers with fancy foliate designs. They're left over from last year because I can't bear to actually pull them; they are just too pretty. The ones we did pull had naff presents and paper crowns and bad jokes, which are, in my opinion, best left behind the pretty exterior.
ReplyDeleteDamn it, I meant to buy some crackers today! Ah well, as we are away for Christmas I think I'll wait and buy some swanky ones in the sale. Possibly when I go to London in January I'll swing past Liberty...
ReplyDelete