Let's Get Together

I decided I didn't have enough to do in the month of December (just in case you missed it, that was sarcasm), so why not plan a family get together! It had been a while since my brother's and sister's families had been over for a Christmas party, so in a moment of holiday delirium, the invitation went out.

I am a planner, and not just a party planner. I always need all my details worked out ahead of time. Hence, the compulsive list making. I had my list compiled of all the food and goodies that the party needed, plus a few things that we really didn't need. After making my list and checking it twice, I could check food off my master list of "lists". The next thing on the list was entertainment. I wanted to have a couple of games that would bring everyone together for some good ol' fashion fun and competition.

In my search for party games, I came upon a game that I'll call the "Gift Game". I purchased a $10 gift card from Sonic for the winning prize. I thought of Sonic because who doesn't like to go get a vanilla coke during half price happy hour? Oh sorry ... that's me. Anyway, I wrapped the gift card in a box with several layers of festive Christmas paper. Each paper layer had about a half a roll of scotch tape holding it together and for good measure, was reinforced with some masking tape. I wanted it to take a long time to get that gift unwrapped. Not to mention that as each person took their two minute turn, they had to put on a Santa hat, scarf and gloves that slightly put the "gift opener" at a disadvantage. I was so excited to see each person struggle as they tryed to try peel away the tape with gloved fingers, only to find another layer of paper. The person who finally got the box open, would get the prize.

As we started to play the game, I went over the rules. I had my daughter, Kayla go first just to show everyone how it was to be done. The second person to play was my nephew, Caleb. He was standing there trying to find somewhere in the wrapping paper he could fit a gloved finger in to rip the paper, when I made a joke about the box being so well secured, we might have to beat it like a pinata. Caleb, being a strong 19 year old, took the box and squeezed it so hard, it burst open like a bag of potato chips.

I was in shock that the gift was open and no one else had gotten to play. We let his sister Joely go up and take the last turn to retrieve the prize from the crumpled mass of paper and box. Next year, I think we'll save Caleb's turn for after everyone else has a go at the gift. Some people just don't know their own strength.

I had one more game I had prepared for the party. It was called "Christmas Songs Pictionary".

I had written the name of Christmas songs on strips of paper and everyone had the opportunity to go up to the board and draw pictures so we could guess the song title.

I was totally impressed at the pictures that were used to create the song title. We had a lot of fun yelling out the different song titles and making fun of everyone's artistic abililty. My brother Ricky and his wife Sara were by far the best "guessers".

We all had a good time at the family get together. We ate, talked, laughed and played. Even though December is such a hectic time of year, it was nice for all of us to come together and remember our connection as a family.