Christmas Olympics! let the games begin

Our daughter Shanna believed in Santa until she was 9 years old. She seemed to represent all things Christmas, but Shanna felt sorry for him. She was sure that a cheerful old man like him would feel sad because the mail only arrived in December, so until she was 9 years old, she started communicating with Santa every January for 11 months, deliberately excluding December and asking only for his friendship.

I was inspired by her. After years of trying to find a way to change our superficial pattern of Christmas to one with more meaning, surely I could follow my young daughter’s lead in creating a Christmas tradition that would take the main focus off of the gifts.

My criteria was not complicated but I needed to cover the things that were important to our family:

1. Make it more about family and togetherness than gifts.

2. Include everyone of all ages.

3.Fun

4. Memorial!

Our family has come to know this unassuming event as the Christmas Olympics.

It begins just after lunch on December 25 with the gong of a bell prompting last year’s Olympian to run through the house proudly wearing the cheap plastic olive leaf wreath on his head while carrying the makeshift torch (a wooden stick with a hand drawn llama) ….happily donated when our three children were still carrying crayons.

The Christmas Olympics are a great way to make sure the little ones and the big ones stay as invested in the occasion as everyone else because they also pick a game they are good at.

While many people spend the 5 days before Christmas shopping, my family is very busy gathering “stuff” for their game or researching “party games” on the internet, and that’s half the fun!

The game each person chooses remains secret until such time as they are designated to start their game. Each person’s playing time is indicated simply by where their name is on the game scoring paper. After all, the Christmas Olympics are meant to be fun with few rules!

If you have 5 family members, each game gives a player a score from 1 to 5, based on where they ranked in a game.

The following is a small sample of some of our Christmas Olympic Games;

or Poop the Potatoe, which actually means jumping around a table with a potato between your legs and, in front of everyone, dropping it into a bowl on the floor.

o Orange peeling contests. The longest intact rind wins and everyone gets a fiber break from candy and chocolate.

o Golf in the snow… one or two holes on a short course (use colorant around the hole)

o Staring contests

or memory games. Read a meaningful or funny short story and ask questions later. It’s really amazing how well adults do NOT listen!

o Guess how many candies, nuts or quarters. The winner gets points and the jar!

or turn the corner. The longest spin wins.

o Gambling of cards or dice.

o Find the Apple Pot. Blindfolded, he crawls across the floor hitting a wooden spoon to find a pot filled with water and an apple. Retrieve the apple with the mouth. This is timed. You can get creative using a soft tomato or marshmallows (if anyone has knee or back problems, place it somewhere on the counter)

or Guess what’s in the sock? Each sock contains an item from a family member. Contestants get a single 10 second feel, 1 clue, and only 2 guesses.

At the end of the day, we laugh, make memories, and crown the Olympian with the coveted but tacky plastic crown for the head, and surprisingly, everyone is always proud to wear it.

We all thank Shanna for seeing things differently than the rest of us and for having the courage to act on it.

Our children though now young adults are just as excited for the afternoon of December 25th.

Let the games begin…

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