Is it fate or the gingersnap?

I, like everyone, have my quirks. One of these involves a family tradition passed down from my maternal Scottish ancestors. Perhaps you've heard of making wishes on lost eyes lashes, or birthday candles. My family? We make wishes on gingersnaps.

It's okay if you need to read that twice. Go ahead, I'll wait.

Let me explain how this works. You select a cookie, hold it in the palm of one hand, and use your elbow to break it, making a wish while you do so. If the gingersnap breaks into three pieces, your wish is granted! Don't do this with Oreos, or Girl Scout cookies, or anything else. Only gingersnaps provide the robust texture that make cracking it into three pieces such a satisfying challenge.

I have been known to eat entire boxes of gingersnaps in a day waiting for my cookie to crumble just right. My mother taught this tradition to me, and I've taught it to my friends here at school. My explanations are often met with alarm, but also curiosity, as everyone puts their fate in the hands of Nabisco. It is strangely exhilarating.

This is really my only superstition. Every time I eat gingersnaps, I have to make at least once wish, and more than once, I have credited a certain happy event to a three-part fortuitous fragmentation. My grandmother broke an elbow making wishes on ginger snaps. We don't mess around.

Please tell me some of your awkward family traditions in the comments to make me feel better about my own.