1. Watch White Christmas sing all songs loudly and slightly off key. (except if your name is Uncle Dan and we have determined it's best if you harmonize).
2. Have Grandma cook a family favorite and leave out a key ingredient. The rest get to take turns playing "guess the missing ingredient" while listening to Grandma giggle. It's really a great way to pass on the recipe.
3. Do something notably different with your hair. Mine will be significantly darker this year. You may prefer trying out the Nicki Minaj...
4. Take the family on a driving tour of holiday lights. Bring an award and give it to your favorite house. Better yet mail it to their address!
5. It may be too late for this one but...make it a tacky sweatshirt gathering! This works twofold. Not only do you take off the pressure of what to wear also the aunt who always buys these (or irons on the applique) gets to see her handiwork.
6. This one’s simply a time saver. Gather everyone together in the living room. Form a giant circle and hold hands. On the count of three yell THANK YOU! We are renouncing the age old practice of thank you notes!!! If somebody reeeally wants one...
replace "thank you" with an entirely different phrase. To that end, I will be using the phrase: "May your tribe increase." After some research, I found that it is a traditional form of well-wishing in India.
Other non-thank you "thank yous" you might use?
• Cheers
• Ta
• That's great
• Cool
• OK
• Brilliant
• Lovely
• Nice one
• Much appreciated
• Fab
• Awesome
• Wicked
• Merci
• Danke
• Gracias
• Super
• Ace
7. Have “alternative” story time (or as I'm seeing it...recount the beginnings of the first white elephant gift exchange). Here's my entry...
The Buddha too arrived in the world in what some would call a mythical or magical way.
One night amidst a great festival Queen Maya went to her quarters to rest. In a vivid dream, she dreamt four angels appeared and took her into white mountains where a great white bull elephant approached holding a white lotus flower in his trunk. He circled her three times then struck her with his trunk and entered into her right side. Thus it was in 10 lunar moons she would give birth to a son. According to tradition, Queen Maya asked to return to her father’s home to give birth. With the King’s blessing she set out in a large procession in a royal palanquin
Along the way she so captured by the splendor of a beautiful garden grove she asked to stop. As she reached up to touch the fruits of a blossoming tree her son, the Buddha, was born…while she was standing up, he came right out…
8. Christmas Day at 5pm “King” James and the Miami Heat take on the Los Angeles Lakers! Get out your Gloria Estefan records, push the furniture back and practice your spicy hot salsa dancing as your pre-game warm up!
9. Set up a hot chai tea stand and pass out cupfuls to crazy runners or intrepid dog walkers passing through the neighborhood.
10. Every time a bell rings take a big swig of eggnog (...spicy because of the nutmeg and rum!)
okay, have a very Merry One, : )
Amanda
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