An American family have experienced the joy of pulling Christmas for the first – including an 84-year old grandma whose reaction stole the show.

Tay, who is married to an Englishman, Alex, spent with her loved ones and introduced them to the festive British tradition, recording their get-together on . "Do you know what a Christmas cracker is?" she asked her grandmother, who simply responded: "No."

After "screwing up" their initial pull, the grandma rejoiced on her success, declaring: "Oh cool, I get a crown!" With a look of surprise on her face, she then read out the joke inside, before Tay moved on to her 64-year old aunt and 59-year old mum.

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Next up, it was the turn of 92-year old 'Nana', who also admitted to never pulling a cracker. "Son of a b***h!" she exclaimed as it went bang.

"It was everyone’s first time doing these! My first time was six years ago in when I used to live there," Tay penned in a caption alongside her clip. "Obviously, it’s a norm in my English husband’s household, but nobody in my family had ever heard of them! Safe to say, Christmas crackers were a hit with this family!"

"The collective groan at the jokes," one Brit penned in response. "They've understood completely." A second admitted: "Blows my mind that they aren’t a thing in the USA."

WARNING: video below contains explicit language, viewer discretion advised

A third added: "Aww it's lovely they are embracing some English tradition, bless them all." Meanwhile, a fourth TikTok user confessed: "I'm so surprised Americans don't have Christmas crackers when they pretty much have everything you can imagine over there!"

The tradition of Christmas crackers dates back to Victorian times. They were first produced in 1845-1850 by London sweet maker Tom Smith. The confectioner and baker, who set up shop in Clerkenwell in the 1840s, initially specialised in wedding cakes and sweets.

However, after a trip to Paris he discovered the French Bon Bon – a sugared almond wrapped in tissue paper. Inspired by the French sweets, Smith decided to produce them himself and add a motto to his sugared almond bon-bons in the UK. These were sold in a twisted paper package.

He was inspired to add the 'bang' after hearing the crackle of his log fire. Smith patented his first cracker device in 1847, and perfected it in the 1860s. Smith used two narrow strips of paper layered together with silver fulminate painted on one side, and an abrasive surface on the other. When these rubbed together it would create a small explosion.