The Planning Madness Has Begun!

The brainstorming and planning for Christmas has begun! I have been making calls to everyone and getting input here and there. So we finally sat down and put a TENTATIVE schedule together. I emphasize tentative because we are open to changing anything and everything :) Lisa has not seen her schedule for work for the Christmas season yet so we are also waiting on that.

We thought it would be nice to have a printed and online schedule available to all families come Christmas time so everyone could know what was going on and what activities are happening incase people want to participate. By the end I hope to have:

• Everyones arrival times
• An exact time for each event
• More specifics on activities
• Dish Days for families
• And anything else you may want to add!

Input is encouraged!!! Please let me know what you think, if there is anything you'd like to add to the activities, any days that would work better, etc.

Activities Explained

These are the for sure activities we have planned thus far...

80s Birthday Dance Party: 

As per Evan and the birthday girl's request, we are having an 80s DANCE PARTY with Karaoke (OF COURSE). Anyone that does not dress up in 80s attire will be headed on the "Highway to the Danger Zone!" hehe. We will also have a cake where Richard Simmons pops out 'Sweatin to the Oldies' style. NOT. Warm up your vocal cords because there will also be some killer Karaoke going on!

Talent Night: 

This is going to be a great night filled with tears of joy and laughter! Well, maybe not... but is at least not SERIOUS. Family skits, singing, and juggling all are welcome! But each family is asked to do something! Trevor already plans to work on his act of juggling while on a pogo stick, on a trampoline.  So we will see how it goes! So get working on your "talents!'

Nativity:

One of the first things Grandma Bunker said to me after seeing Gabriel for the first time was that Trevor and I could play Mary and Joseph and Gabriel could be baby Jesus. Gotta love how far ahead she was thinking with it being almost the summer. But, with that said, we are willing to give Gabriel up to anyone who would like to play Mary or Joseph since I suppose he is the only boy baby in the family right now! But some members of the family really wanted to reenact the Nativity so we thought it would be fun to do. More specifics to come later...

Family Picture Taking/Exchange:

Of course with all of us getting together, taking family pictures is part of it! We would also love to get pictures of the grandkids as well! Along with taking pictures, we also want everyone to bring photos via electronically and to share them among other members of the family. We will explain more as the time comes.

Craft Day:

This is pretty self explanatory but we wanted to have a time we could all get together and make some fun crafts. There are no specific ideas yet but please if you have any ideas, share!!! :)

Chopped Competition:

There have been MANY great ideas given in regards to how to successfully run this competition. Ideas from having teams present Appetizer, Main Dish, and Dessert all in one to spreading it out over the course of a few days. On the Calendar I arranged it in favor of the latter because Lisa and I figured that would hit two birds with one stone: a competition and a source of dinner for the masses. So right now how I have it arranged is a five day event. With around 10 competitors and 6 judges, we thought we could split the competitors into 5 compete day 1 appetizers and the next 5 compete day 2 appetizers. 6 people will move on to entree round (4 eliminated). Then 3 people will compete for main dish on day 3 and the last 3 on day 4. With 3 more eliminated, 3 competitors will remain on the last day for the head to head dessert round. We thought this way we could get dinners out of the competitions and also have some fun for more than 1 day! As far as rules will go, the competitors will be given the secret ingredient(s) for the day and they will get a certain amount of money to spend on additional baking necessities. They will then be required to present the meal all at a specific time (6:00pm up at The House). They will be judged on Taste, Creativity, Texture, and Appearance.  As the competition continues throughout the week, they can also pick a handy dandy side kick chef from those eliminated to help them make their dish. Here are the lists of people we think want to participate (some names are assumed so if you change your mind or want to switch, let me know!)

Chefs:

Sarah

Trevor

Peter

Becca

Collin

Alison

Rachel

Hannah

Evan

Mary

Judges:

Lisa

Nina

John

Blais

Dad

James

Please give any input on this as you would like!

A Walk Down Memory Lane:

Ever wonder where your rotting tooth ended up when you put it under your pillow, find out here! :p We thought it would be nice with all of us home to help mom and dad go through their things for a few hours and help them get 'new home ready.' A great opportunity to do service! :)