An Attempt at Summing Up

 

Summing up such a special holiday is so hard.  Instead of describing all we did in organized paragraphes I'll just do a list and some pictures.  Ok, make that lots of pictures.

~Ninja

~Mafia

~Gingerbread Houses

~Snow Forts

~Making videos

~Presents

~Singing

~Games

~"THE PLAY"

~The Highway to the Driveway Run

~Target Shooting

~Staying up late and talking

I love Christmas because I get to see my family.  Gracie's family lives in Texas, she's a gymnast and her schedule isn't flexible.  Christmas is a treat because there normally isn't as much snow in Texas as there is in Kansas.  Even though it was freezing, we all trecked outside and teamed up, girls against boys, in a fort building competition.  Before Christmas, me and my siblings had built a slide and Gracie wanted to recreate it out in the field.  She ignored my warning that the snow was too powdery and even though the slide didn't work, she came up with an even better idea.  We packed all the snow down trying to slide down it, so we started digging into the mound and began what would eventually be a snow cave.  It froze overnight and the next day it was even easier to dig out.  The boys created an ambush next to the driveway but never got to use it.

We all braved the freezing wind to begin a new tradition:  The Driveway to the Highway Run.  Hearing everyone moan about the half mile run was funnier than doing it.  My uncle said he would rather be whacked in the stomach ten times with a baseball bat than do it again!  I will say, the wind was brutal.  I think my face froze.  The running attire consisted of hiking boots, ascots, and sweatpants. 

Another fun activity was Mafia.  We had several games where the narrator would accidentally reveal who was the Mafia, which incited uncontrollable laughter.  Ninja had us falling all over ourselves as well.

We had our traditional Christmas play in an untraditional way.  Instead of Gracie and I acting we created a game.  There were three sets of cards; people, places, and problems.  The teams drew one from each and created a scene in one minute using those three.  The results were hialrious. 

Finally, me and Gracie shared a bed in the storage room and enjoyed Temple Run Challenges, making ridiculous videos of ourselves, and discussing our hopes and dreams. 

The last day they were here, we went and shot targets in the field.  Aunt Maury, Gracie and Boston all shot the 4-10, trying to hit the orange targets and frozen pumpkins.  After a sad goodbye, me and the boys went out and I shot the semi automatic for the first time in almost a year.  I surprised myself with enjoying it so much.  Guns are actually fun (in a good way.)  It was funny; I aimed for the pumpkin, hoping to explode it.  I should've known frozen things don't explode.