The 19th door of the Meery Christmas Advent Calendar gives us a fun little element of a Christmas celebration: the humble Christmas cracker!

Christmas crackers provide a little theatre to proceedings. They are interactive, because they require two people to pull on either end, and they grant the victor little prizes, which are admittedly pretty awful! There is usually a paper hat, and said hat usually winds up ripped in half before long. Some kind of little toy might be in there, or you may end up with a small article of office equipment (think ‘micro stapler’).

A far more satisfying element of the Christmas cracker is the joke. Some may consider these jokes to be bad, but I for one rather like them. They funny because they are bad. They are essentially dad jokes, and I love a dad joke! I present to you all some highlights from here:

How did Darth Vader know what Luke Skywalker got for Christmas?
He felt his presents

Why don’t you ever see Father Christmas in hospital?
Because he has private elf care

Why did the Grinch go to Bargain Booze?
He was searching for some holiday spirit

What does Santa spend his wages on?
Jingle Bills

What is white and minty?
A polo bear!

What do elves do after school?
Their gnome work!

What falls at the North Pole but never gets hurt?
Snow

How did the ornament get addicted to Christmas?
He was hooked on trees his whole life

They’re so bad they’re good right? Right?!