"A Home for the Holidays Reunion" It seems
that out fondest memories revolve around the holidays and the times we are able to spend
together as families. Wouldn’t it be nice to share that special feeling, not only
with the immediate family but with the entire all the aunts and uncles, nieces and
nephews, cousins and 2nd cousins, in fact, the entire family. This was the idea
behind one of the most memorable family reunions I ever attended. To this day we still
remember, with fondness, our "Home For the Holidays" family reunion. Here is how
it took place.
IST DAY – FRIDAY
As family members were arriving in the campground a flyer was passed
out that explained the order of the events, the time, and where to gather for each one.
That evening, was NEW YEARS EVE and everyone prepared to celebrate with party hats and
favors. We had a pot luck dinner with lots of all the favorite snacks that go along with
the holiday. I’m sure that we scared any wild animal within 20 miles as we banged on
pots and pans and blared our car horns right at the stroke of midnight.
2ND DAY – SATURDAY
The first thing in the morning (somewhere around 9 a.m.) we
celebrated EASTER with an Easter egg hunt for all the kids (you can descide on an age
limit). At first this seemed just a little strange to all the children, with it being the
middle of August and all, but it didn’t take them long to fit into the spirit of
things.
Next we all had just one hour (until 11 a.m.) to come up with our
family entry for the 4TH OF JULY parade. There was a lot of creativity (and I
think, a lot more imagination) that went into the different entries. At the end of the
parade the first, second, and third place entries were awarded prizes. Still celebrating
the 4th of July, we had an old-fashioned watermelon seed spitting contest, a
fishing pond (with live fish to catch), three legged races, etc. By 1 p.m. we finished up
with a grand picnic with handburgers and hotdogs and all the fixin’s.
HALLOWEEN (starting at about 5 p.m.) was next, and here again we
were asked to come up with costumes from what we had just lying around. There were plenty
of treats for the kids as they went from tent to tent shouting "Trick or Treat".
To finish off the holiday, the costumes were judged and prizes given for the most
creative, funniest, scariest, etc.
We started gathering for THANKSGIVING dinner around 7 p.m. I was
surprised to find a full Thanksgiving dinner spread out with all the trimmings right down
to the cranberry sauce. We ate till we just couldn’t fit one more mouthful in. Each
family was asked to put on a skit, or tell about an experience they had been most thankful
for that year.
We finalized out "Home for The Holidays" reunion with
CHRISTMAS ( starting somewhere around 9p.m.or 9:30 p.m.) and were asked to bring a white
elephant gift to exchange (we knew about this one in advance). Santa paid a visit to all
the kids, and even passed out candy canes and gave notes on how each child had behaved
that year. It took a couple of hours to complete the white elephant exchange, and we
finished up with the story of our Savior from the Bible. It was after midnight before we
all turned in, very tired, and very fulfilled at having just spent a whole year of
holidays with all the people we loved the most.
Other Family Reunion Ideas
