MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL!!! :):):)
Hope everyone has fun this festive season! I just came back from my mother's extended family's Christmas party, which is something that we've had every year since i was dunno-how-old. Most of us in the family aren't Christians, but well...we do like to celebrate the holiday, and this has become something of a tradition for us.
It started with my older cousins (like 5-12 years older) organising simple games and sing-a-longs way back when i was a toddler or something. And after a few years, the party started to get bigger and better...it helped that our extended family eventually grew to over thirty in number. There used to be games like musical chairs, limborock, dancing, dress-up competitions, guess the number of m&ms and charades, and today we still have the balloon blowing competition and pyramid game and now other stuff like pictionary, taboo, sudoku, and watermelon eating competitions. And there are prizes to be won for all the games of course.
Then there's the video game competition, which first started in 1994, where i lost in the finals to my mum lol. The game we play is almost always a 2D fighter, and i still sorta remember who won during which year, although i can't say that i'm as excited about it as i used to be. I suppose the competition was where my real love for Street Fighter began hahaha!
Our family has really weird but nice traditions, like "lucky draw prizes" at the end of the party where my mum would bring loads of her excess "junk", like paper notebooks and toiletry bags and stuff and pass them around to all the kids to bring home (there were times when she bought underwear and err other things to distribute 0.o...she's quite famous for all that); our present-exchange system structured so that everyone would get at least one christmas present (and where there would be a lot of gossip between the aunties over which people they had to buy presents for); how we've had these competitions for so long already that we have established favourites for every game; the way we play charades, where everyone would deliberately get very close to the answer, but not quite correct yet, just so the person acting out the answer would keep acting...until one of the kids just can't stand it anymore and shouts out the answer (for some candy, of course).
Also, the organisers of the party would always be the kids...when they hit a certain age and seem capable enough, the older kids would pass the "mantle" down and the new group of kids take charge of assigning game prizes, presents, and food and drinks for each family to prepare. And to fix up a timetable, organise the games, come up with the questions and stuff and take charge on the day itself of course.
The "mantle" is passed down very gradually...every couple of years, one younger cousin (because the "kids" are all my cousins lol) would be "inducted" (informally lah) to help out in organising, and another cousin would retire and just err sit back and enjoy. And occasionally help out, i suppose. There'd be two to three organisers every year. I suppose i consider myself retired...i organised last year's Christmas and have done three or four Christmas parties in total. University life has its moments of free time, but all of it is spent with a tinge of guilt...urgh. :|
Anyway the party yesterday was pretty fun! Seemed a bit shorter and less eventful, but i suppose that's because we've been making the party more free and easy over the years...not to mention that we haven't had family gatherings regularly for a very long time, and i AM growing old (and therefore time passes faster for me...yikes).
I won the video game competition and pyramid game! Mwahahaha i take pride in being able to explain things to people thoroughly...and to the point too, if there's very little time. My Christmas presents have been pretty nice as well...very practical and useful stuff, nothing too extravagant and wasteful, or useless and cheap. Our family is a pretty nice bunch! :)
We're a pretty funny bunch too! Our family's got this sense of humour that probably can't be understood unless you know us well enough.
For example, we played this one-on-one buzzer game yesterday, where, at one point, competitors have to answer the question (or rather category) with an example. We'd rush to press the bell and there was a three second time-limit before the person who pressed the bell had to answer or otherwise forfeit the points. This made for some funny answers...
Category: Things you'd find in a woman's handbag...
Uncle no. 1 presses the bell: "Ahh ermm...torchlight!"
Lol what the hell. Everyone started laughing, discussing the possibilities and making fun of him. My dad exclaimed that we should all go check his wife's handbag now, to see if she carried a torchlight or not.
Category: Food you can eat without chewing...
Uncle no. 2 presses the bell: "Err jelly......fish!
Immediately, he puts his face in his hands and exclaims: "Oh shit, i wanted to say jelly!!!"
Category: Things a girl would have to know about her boyfriend before marrying him...
My mum, instead of pressing the bell, starts taunting her opponent Darren, my twelve year old pre-pubescent cousin (who is err MOST likely single right now): "Ah hah! This one you confirm don't know!"
Darren proceeds to press the bell, and exclaims: "...WHO THE BOYFRIEND'S MOTHER IS!"
Okay, i'm not sure if these are all inside jokes, but well yeah...back then, i thought that they were damn freaking funny.
