A little girl, Ellie, is watching her mom, Christine, prepare a ham for dinner one night.  Ellie noticed that her mom cut off each end of the ham before placing it in the pan.  When Ellie asked her mom why she cut off the ends, her mom paused for a second and replied, “That’s a great question, Ellie.  I hadn’t really thought about it.  I’ve always done it that way because that is how my mom did it.  I assumed it was to make the ham bake better, but why don’t we call Grandma to find out the reason?”

Christine called her mom and asked her the same question her daughter Ellie asked.  Christine was surprised that her mom gave her the same answer she gave Ellie:  “”That’s a great question.  I hadn’t really thought about it.  I’ve always done it that way because that is how my mom did it.  I assumed it was to make the ham bake better.”

So, to satisfy Ellie’s and her curiosity, Christine called her Grandmother and asked her about the ham.  She told her Grandma she assumed she cut off the ends because it’s the secret for a better baked ham.  Her grandma replied, “Oh honey, I wish I had some special secret.  The real reason is that the only pan I had was too small for a whole ham, so I cut off the ends to make the ham fit”.

The New Year is a great time to challenge assumptions and make sure you aren’t doing something just because it’s the way it has always been done.  Are there any situations where you are cutting off the ends of the ham and don’t know why?