December 20, 2014
My Instead: I had a different activity (bean bag toss) at my
Christmas gathering this year.
The race was over. December, oftentimes a blur to me, was coming
into focus as the evening drew near. The online ordering, the shopping, the
wrapping, the decorating, the cleaning, and the food preparation were crossing
the finish line and I was the one who was out of breath. Does it have to be
this way? Does there have to be so much to do? No, but my Christmas is a
reflection of me, so I really couldn't do it any other way.
Everyone started arriving at 6 o’clock in the evening. Time to
eat, call my out-of-town son, and take family and group photos. Of course, we
had to sing Jingle Bells, open presents, do the annual gift exchange, and take
the thirteenth annual trivia quiz about last Christmas. Last of the gifts were my
personalized photo mugs and calendars to everyone. Now, it was time for the new
activity…the bean bag toss. Things were starting to wind down and I was just
about ready to just skip it, until I saw a spark of energy still flickering in
my guests. I set up the bean bag game, laid down the tape markers for the three
different age brackets, drew names to form six teams with each kid as the
captain, then let the games begin. Everyone was up and inhaling their second
wind. It was amazing. The good sportsmanship and cheering filled my basement
like fog on a cool morning following a warm night.
The spirit continued after the winners (my nephew Aidan took first
place) were announced. After the game, the kids got a little rowdy with bean
bags flying everywhere, but cousins spending time together makes for wonderful childhood
memories.
My “instead” activity was a hit and was thoroughly enjoyed by all
the “kids”. After all, there’s a kid inside each one of us. We just have to let
‘em out and play once in a while.
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