the name game

Now that we have young children, New Year's Eve has become a night of marathon game playing. Kids play Monopoly and Candyland with their grandparents and cousins. Adults play a card game we call Blackout and maybe a round of Carcassonne or Ticket to Ride.

It also happens to be my sister's birthday so we usually spend it together, ringing in the New Year and singing Happy Birthday simultaneously. Looking for a fun game to play tonight while you wait for the clock to strike twelve? Try the Name Game. I'm sure this game goes by many other names, but this is what my friends and I always called it. It's great for groups of about 6 to 12 adults, and requires nothing more than paper and pens.

Cut some paper up into little strips (you'll need a decent amount). Each person grabs a handful of paper strips and a pen and writes one name on each. Names can include celebrities, historical figures, people you all happen to know, fictional characters, etc. As you can see from the sampling above we like to include a wide range of interests, and it's best to try and think of names that are well known but a little obscure. Remember that both teams will be using the names, so if you make it TOO obscure like John Tyler (our 10th U.S. president) you'll be hurting when you pull that name yourself.

All the names are folded in half once and put in a large bowl (the folding is important since you don't want people to see other names). Divide your people into two teams, alternating turns between the teams. Each person takes a turn. Reach into the bowl and pull out a name, then try and get your team to guess who it is. There aren't a lot of rules about what you can and can't do. Obviously you can't say the person's name, and you can't do any "rhymes with" tricks.. but you can list movies they've been in, or sing the theme song for their show, or name the books they wrote.

For example, if you pulled out Wes Anderson, you'd say "He's the director who's really skinny and he did Royal Tenanbaums and Rushmore.. and they always star Bill Murray and the Owens brothers!" Your team tries to guess as quickly as they can. The turns are timed (1 to 2 minutes) and you win by scoring the most points for your team. If you get stuck on a name, you can throw it back in the bowl and choose another, but you lose a point. The team with the most points at the end of the bowl wins.

new year's eve

Once upon a time New Year's Eve was the most anticipated night of my social calendar. I was young and single and living in New York City and had friends who lived right in the heart of Times Square. Living on 43rd Street left you fighting with tourists all year long, but come December 31st, it was the best location in town.

Our friends held a party each year, with way too many people jammed into a way too small apartment. One million people come to Times Square each New Year's Eve, and it was always tricky fighting your way through the snow and the barricades and the crowds to get to the party (in heels, no less!). We found that carrying your invitation with you helped, so you could hold it up to a kind policeman and beg to be allowed to cross Broadway.

A little before midnight we'd all head up the stairs to the rooftop of the building, where the ball loomed bright and beautiful across the street, and count down the new year along with the huge crowd gathered below. It was loud, and crazy, and when the confetti exploded.. downright magical.

Photo from The New York Times via The Craft Dept.

name that kid

Last weekend my husband and I were in charge of putting on our church Christmas party. We usually have a family party, with a visit from Santa Claus, but this year we decided to have an adult only sit down dinner. We hoped it would give people a chance to mingle and get to know one another, more so than when we are busy running after our children.

We knew we needed a game of some sort to kind of bring the party together. So we asked everyone to email a Christmas photo from their childhood, and we used a projector to project the pictures on the wall. They were numbered, so everyone had a card numbered 1-50, and you had to write down who you thought each kid was. We laughed at how easy we could recognize certain people because their children look exactly like them when they were kids. A box of Trader Joes peppermint Jo-Jos was our prize for the winner.

I think this would work well for a Christmas party at home, and you wouldn't need a projector. Just have people bring a photo with them in an envelope (so people don't see who brought which photo), then arrange them on a wall or table along with numbers and have everyone write down who they think is who.

We loved seeing so many photos from Christmases past.. sitting on Santa's lap, acting out the nativity, decorating the Christmas tree, leaving cookies for Santa. It made me realize the importance of documenting these moments with my own kids... to help them remember what Christmas was like when they were a kid.

A special thank you to my friends who let me post their photos here!

the christmas toys

This is how I find Bee most mornings.. downstairs in the family room playing with our Christmas toys, still in her pajamas. Breaking out the Christmas boxes is always fun, the kids love to see the ornaments and the lights and our growing collection of Christmas books (we add one new book each year). But the most anticipated boxes are the ones which hold our Christmas toys.

My sister-in-law has started a lovely tradition, which I believe was started in her family a while back. Each year, around the first week in December she sends our family a package that reads "Do not wait until Christmas! Open immediately!". And inside is some sort of Christmas toy. When my children were smaller she gave us a new Little People set each year, first the nativity.. then Santa and his reindeer, next the Christmas village. (Word to the wise: Most of these play music of some sort, so we have an Only-One-Toy-Has-Batteries-at-a-Time Rule. Trust me, you'll want to do likewise.) This year she sent the Playmobil nativity set (which I have had my eye on for quite a while.. it is awesome!).

The kids love their Christmas toys, perhaps because they are only out for a few weeks each December and are then packed away with the other decorations. (And I love that the kids are happily occupied for a bit so I can get a few items crossed off my To Do list!)

on keeping calm

It's December! And somehow that makes my heart beat a little bit faster. The list in my head is growing longer and longer each day (get the Christmas tree, put up the decorations, design the Christmas cards, finish the shopping, frost the christmas cookies, mail the presents, etc. etc. etc.)

I love Christmas. I always have. But Christmas as a mother of three is leaving me a little breathless. There is a fine line between making Christmas a special time filled with fun activities and family events, and making Christmas a harried season that's too busy and filled with stress.

So my mantra this Christmas season is to keep things calm. I am trying to be more intentional about how we celebrate this year. Choosing carefully the things we will take on as a family, skipping things I feel will add stress to the holidays and focusing on the simple things that we can do together.

My list is looking like this now: Hang the advent calendar. Trim the tree. Find some small acts of service for those in need. Read the Christmas story as a family. Mail our packages early. Enjoy our week of being still.

I will still want to make Christmas cookies with the kids, and hand sew a doll for Bee, and sew pajamas for the kids (all those years at Martha Stewart are still with me). But I will choose carefully the projects I take on, and if I feel the stress rising, I will put things aside. I don't want my children to look back at holidays and remember a mother who was stressed and crazed and taking on way too much.

If anything, I want the days surrounding Christmas to have a special feeling. Calm. Peaceful. Loving. And that is how I would like my children to remember their mother at Christmas too. (Why is this harder than it sounds?)