Me and my nephew, Wes.
Part of the Howard Clan exchanging gifts.
The girls with their BIG gifts-a Coach purse and a Fossil watch.
Christmas festivities started with breakfast at my house. My daughter and family came down around 9:00 a.m. and we had breakfast. I had decided to have something different. I usually have biscuits, gravy, eggs, bacon, ham, sausage, coffee and orange juice. Today I was planning to only cook bacon and ham with pancakes. Well, Sheyanne said she wanted two runny eggs, so did Madasan, so did Brett with their pancakes. I ended up cooking biscuits and pancakes so the big change went hay wire.
After breakfast we opened our gifts and then the girls search of their BIG gifts. I started this little game with my daughter and they granddaughters insist that we continue the tradition. I had seven clues scattered through the house and they have to search. They always complain that their clues are too hard and need hints to help with the search. This little effort usually takes around 20-30 minutes. Squeals of joy fill the house when they finally find their BIG gift.
They hang around for a while and finally go home to get ready for the night’s activities. We went to my brother’s house at 6:00 p.m. to meet with all of my brothers and their families. This group makes up around 30+ and is growing.
We enjoyed an abundance of wonderful food and then exchange gifts. The women bring a woman’s gift, then men bring a man’s gift and each family with small children brings gifts for them. We draw numbers and do the Chinese swap game. My brother, Richard, is in charge of rules and the swap game. He gets quite a charge out of playing this game and changing the rules to suit his needs.
Christmas is over and things will settle down for another year. We have so much to be thankful for.
2 comments:
How do you think up a new scavenger hunt every year? That is really neat.
MacKinzy
MacKinzy,
I sit in my recliner and think up clues. As the girls grow older the clues get more complicated.
I come back to the computer and print out the clues on little strips of paper. The day before Christmas I go around and stick them under each hiding place.
You need to write a little clue to yourself where the next clue goes so you will not get lost in the shuffle. I also keep a list of the clues just in case I forget and the girls get stumped.
"If I was real people would come and worship in me." This one seems easy enough but Sheyanne had great difficulty with it because she had not really looked at my village buildings. I have a village church and tucked under neath was a clue.
You can used anything that can conceal a clue, pictures, vases, ice chest, etc.
I keep wanting to do away with this game but the girls insist on doing it. Sheyann's boyfriend even spent Christmas with us one year and I had to hide his gift and make him search. They love doing it so I continue finding clues.
Post a Comment