My dad’s side of the family does themed Christmases.
I’m not really sure why we started doing this a few years ago, other than the fact that we really wanted to make our own pizzas for Christmas Eve dinner. And with that, a tradition was born.
This year’s theme was Mele Kalikimaka (Hawaiian Christmas).
My cousin, Amy, found this awesome Hawaiian figurine that we tried to fit into a lot of photos.
Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take a picture of our Hawaiian themed foods (I seem to forget to do this every year), but we had Hawaiian pizza, ham and cheese on Hawaiian rolls, lots of fruit, lots of dips, and lots of dessert.
The real fun with themed Christmases (other than the costumes) is coming up with themed games for the cousins to play. We played a game matching Hawaiian phrases to their English translations, which was much more difficult than it sounds.
My sister made this really impressive game where you toss balls into cut outs of Hawaiian islands. Each island was worth a different amount of points.
We also played a game where we put a piece of paper on top of our heads and drew a palm tree. As you can see from the winning drawing below, it was pretty tricky.
After all of the Hawaiian game playing and gift exchanges, we took our traditional cousin photos, one in order of age, one in order of height, and one “Asian Height”, which came from my aunt’s misunderstanding of “age and height” many years ago. I’m thrilled to announce that with the addition of little Aubree, I am no longer the youngest or shortest. I’m sure she’ll pass me up in height in a couple of years.
We spent Christmas day with my mom’s side of the family, eating more traditional Christmas foods, of course. Eric and I switch off spending holidays with our families, so this was the first Christmas with the Smith/Devers clan in 2 years. It was so great to see everyone and spend a lot of time with my crazy family.
Hope you all had lovely holidays!
If themed Christmases sound fascinating to you, check out I’ll Be Gnome for Christmas (which, unfortunately, is the only themed Christmas that made it to the blog).
-Ally
markandrachelcampbell says
I just want you to know your blog is delightful. I love it and am slightly addicted to reading about your adventures.
ericandally says
Thanks so much for reading! It’s good to hear that other folks are enjoying our adventures too!