More Christmas Traditions

I've finally got around to blogging the rest of our Christmas break. My family came up with some new things this past year and had so much fun with them that we decided to make them into yearly (actually bi-yearly due to sharing years with the in-laws) traditions. This first one, The Mini Olympics, was actually invented during our St. Lucia trip and slightly modified for our Christmas gathering. As you can see in the pictures below, each adult was partnered with a grandchild and had to complete 5 different activities; Darts- self explanatory, Mexican Horseshoes-throwing large washers into one of three holes; Luge Pong-blow the ping-pong ball around an obstacle course with your partner; Clothing Relay-put on jacket, gloves hat, scarf, unwrap a chocolate kiss, eat it, and take it all off; Boat Races- with previously made boats, we turned on the jets in the hot tub and saw whose boat was still floating at the end (ours was a pirate ship!) At the end of the festivities, everyone got a gold medal and 2 kisses from Grandma, who could ask for a better prize!

The next tradition was the Iron Chef. This consisted of each couple being assigned a course of the meal (i.e. appetizer, main dish, dessert, etc.) and having to use the secret ingredient in all of them. 1 hour time limit, no recipes allowed and you could only use what was already in the fridge. The secret ingredient was ginger. We actually had an amazing meal, surprising all of us! This was the first time we did this one and have since decided it's a keeper!

Finally, the Pinata tradition. This one started a few years back and once again, it proved to be so much fun that it stuck. Every year the boys in the fam take on the assignment of making and filling a pinata for the New Years Eve celebration. This year, due to time constraints and travel schedules it was a simple present pinata (in the past there have been unicorns and horses) but filled with puzzles, candy, pens, Tylenol, tampons, Bean-o, and lots more unexpected surprises (remember who is in charge of filling the pinata ;-) The kids absolutely love it and the adults sure don't mind taking a swing themselves!

I'm sure each year will bring more new traditions to accompany the old and for that, I can't wait!