Wishing you many happy returns of the day, and I have to report we had a lovely one, organized by a brave friend. What we did:
- About a half-dozen families, meaning a couple dozen kids, turned out at the parish gym (event sponsored by a parish group). We decorated a bit on the theme, just enough to make it festive.
- Kids played soccer until we were mostly gathered and ready to start.
- Quick grace and then potluck lunch. A few more families trickled in during lunch. We had a King Cake, but no one reported finding the coin. Oops.
- Most of the kids made themselves shiny crowns at the craft table. The teenagers lurked and chatted, and some of the babies and toddlers wandered around and played ball. We kept all activity in the gym, so there were no roving troops of vandals. We used cones to delineate the ball-playing area from the tables-food-stillness area.
- Game time, and everyone (teens and under) played: Musical chairs to Christmas music, relays, and a bit of extra balloon-popping after the last relay (which involved popping most but not all of our balloon inventory, hence the after-game game).
- Piñata. It’s not a party without one, right? 1-minute lesson on the catechism-related history of piñatas before we began, and then we lined the kids up by height and went at it. It broke early in the line-up, but a shower of candy distracts from the sorrow at not getting a turn at bat.
And that was it. A little more socializing, clean-up, and head home.
You could do this next year. It would be fun, and you’d feel like you finally got your Christmas properly festivated for a change. Wouldn’t that be nice?
Artwork: Abraham Bloemaert, The Adoration of the Magi [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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