So, you've got your turkey and your ham - the potatoes and turnips.  Perhaps you include the cabbage rolls and perogies in your Christmas dinner? 

All of those foods were and are a part of our family food traditions during the Holiday Season.  Oh, and we like to snack, too.  We have salami and cheese with crackers - chips and dip and let's not forget the smoked oysters! 

I also remember the bowl of nuts on the coffee table with the handy, dandy nutcracker beside them.  My father loved cracking those nuts - it was like a Holiday Season hobby for him.  He was good at it.  I'd watch while he found the perfect position on those nuts and then squeeze that nutcracker and harvest the fruits of his labour. 

Every year, for many years, I got into that act.  But, my quest to become skillful at nut cracking would always end in injury.  I'd crush a few nuts and then, inevitably, I'd crush a finger or a thumb.  I'd get angry and I'd quit. 

I think I was about 14 years old when I figured it out.  As I reached for the nutcracker, I stopped myself and wondered, why would I risk injury for a few nuts when you can just grab a handful from the jar?  Those nuts are already shelled and salted and delicious.   

I concluded cracking nuts is a waste of time and energy. 

You're welcome.