Making dinner at home is making a comeback. After decades of consumer preferences leaning toward dining out, a new survey shows that American preferences are starting to shift. The new momentum is largely a cost-saving move by millennials, but also a result of an increased interest in health and family time. According to a recent survey, 73 percent of adults currently make dinner at home at least four nights a week, but millennials are pushing that trend even further. Fifty percent surveyed they have intentions to cook at home more often than that in 2018. And 79 percent of teens, or those in the temporarily dubbed post-millennial generation — surveyed that they wanted their parents to cook at home more in 2018. One in three teens expressed an interest in helping their parents cook at home more often as a way to help their family eat healthier. So what’s causing the shift? About…
The uncertain origins of the Christmas Pickle ornament
When it comes to holiday traditions, the Christmas pickle can be kind of a big dill — depending who you ask. Some families forgo hiding the odd ornament, yet in other homes it’s the most sought after item in the whole house. But where did this custom come from? Most people believe that hiding a pickle ornament somewhere in the tree is an Old World tradition that came to the United States with German immigrants in the 1800s. It’s said that whoever finds the pickle in the tree on Christmas morning will have good fortune in the coming year. In some families, the finder even gets a special present or gets to be the first to open his presents. But as it turns out, most Germans have never heard of the Christmas pickle, and you’d be hard pressed to find a German’s tree adorned with this garish green, sparkly decoration. Other stories of origin make…