Oh, the hoppin’ holidays.

I have mixed drinks about family holidays. Kidding! Sort of. Not really.

I have these idyllic memories of holidays and family gatherings as a kid, and crave that sense of tradition and connected-ness as an adult. Holidays obviously change as you get older, suddenly you’re having to actually bring a casserole to dinner instead of your cute presence being the contribution to the evening (I still like to believe my charming personality and wit is a contribution, although not as cute in a pink dress as I once was). But that need for family-time, and the laughs and memories that can only be created with family, is still there.

I blame part of this “need” on the fact that I moved away, but really the basis of what holidays and family gatherings are “supposed” to be was established by my Gram Pam (stories of GP comin’ again, think I miss her at all?). One of the best things about Gram was the love she had for her family, and the importance of family that she instilled within each of us. We were raised to be together, and that family is your backbone and your heart. Holidays were chaotic and loud, but full of odd traditions, smiles, at least a couple arguments (I mean it wouldn’t be family if there weren’t some of those), and always memories. Not that my childhood was perfect by any means, but I honestly can’t think of a better way to have grown up.

When I look at how holidays and family gatherings have evolved, I find myself upset (the couple cocktails I have at each dinner probably exacerbates this a bit). I don’t like this feeling of just going through the motions, checking off family dinner as an “okay we did that, now let’s go home” event. I want them to be something we look forward to, and something where we can all come together to really enjoy the time spent with one another.

Needless to say, I got tired of the bullsh!t and if I wanted fun holidays, dammit I was going to make them fun. So, last year was the inaugural Adult Easter Egg Hunt. I’m sorry, but if you’ve never seen 10+ adults running across fields looking for eggs and bottles of wine, you just haven’t lived. We don’t have little kids on my mom/step dad’s side of the family, but why should that stop us from having an Easter Egg Hunt? Throw a little booze in there and you’ll draw every adult in 2 square miles. Here’s how it went: I made everyone draw cards so they were on random teams of 2. Each team started with one clue that took them to another place on the property, they got their next clue, and so on. The point was to collect all their clues and end up back in the house, all the while looking for candy eggs, money eggs, bottles of wine, and cases of beer. We had the best time! It was complete chaos, and our family is competitive, so it was like the best of all worlds. This year, to keep it fresh and exciting, I changed it up a bit. Everyone was on random teams of 2, but it was more of a traditional hunt. Well, with a twist. In order to beginning “hunting” each team had to qualify with 2 activities. They had to shoot and pop a balloon with a BB gun, and then successfully toss an egg at a specified distance, without breaking or dropping it. Once they did both of those things they could begin hunting. There were: candy eggs, bottles of wine, cases of beer, tallboys, Peeps, trivia cards, and ribbon. Ribbon you say? Yes ribbon. Tied to various animals across the property. For added entertainment on my end I put the ribbon on the animals who were the biggest a$$holes. For instance, the two fighting geese, the attack rooster, and the meanest mare in the west. This was in fact funny, but almost as funny was Grandpa and I trying to catch the little ba$!ards to tie the ribbon on them. Each item in the hunt had a different point value attached to it. Whatever team came back with the most points, won a gift basket with wine and candy. The loser, well they had to wear bunny ears the rest of the day.

It may sound ridiculous, but it was my attempt to take a low key holiday and make it something we would start to look forward to, and something that would always produce new memories. I’ve begun to take this approach to other holidays, too. Part of it is I love to plan, and partly I just love my family and want to create new traditions.

I’ve had to recognize that holidays will never be the same without Gram. The traditions we carry on, are always missing a little something. But, she raised me better than to settle. We shouldn’t let our bottle of good times run empty. I’m sure she would say something along the lines of: if you want something, make it happen; if you want to spend more time with family, make them a priority; if you want to create memories, get off your f#*king phone, and make memories (that goes for me too). Play on old traditions, create new traditions. Adapt to the changing tides of your family. Enjoy the time and people while you have them.

I like to rate each post with a beverage. I would call this one a gin fizz. Why? Because those are my new obsession. They’re like breakfast. Got that half and half going (I think that’s where the breakfast connection ends), and oh ya, those were mom and I’s Easter brunch. Cheers!