The Boswell side of our family (Brad's
parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins) has a really
unique Christmas Eve tradition: we choose a Christmas movie and have a THEMED
party. I use all-caps here because it is SO THEMED OUT. Rather than having a
more traditional meal and gift exchange, we dress in costumes, bring
movie-related gifts for a Dirty Santa swap, create and play a trivia game, and
have a menu planned around foods eaten in the movie.
We do it up right, y'all.
Movies of years gone by include: A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, Elf, Christmas with the Kranks, The
Santa Claus, and The Grinch (the Jim Carrey
version). Every year, it seems to get bigger and better. Here, enjoy some shots of Boswell costumes from The Grinch in 2014:
This year's movie was Home Alone, and Brad and I were
the game makers. We lobbied for this job and took it very seriously.
I should take a moment to note that
when I say that "we create and play a trivia game," I mean WE CREATE
AND PLAY A TRIVIA GAME. The precedent was set many years ago and must be
upheld. What kinds of trivia questions are we talking about, you ask? Here's
one from the cutting room floor: At what time does the power go out, causing
the McAllisters' alarm clocks to stop working?
Answer: 4:37 am.
And yes, folks knew this answer. We
take our trivia oh so seriously. In fact, each year, study guides are created
and poured over. One of Brad's aunts made a 10-pager this year. Another aunt
made her personal study guide and also called Brad’s Mamaw and Papaw with a
question-of-the-day for 2 weeks before the game, so that she could help them
study, too. Tim didn’t have much time to study before he got to Tennessee (he’s
a doctor at the MAYO CLINIC, remember?), but he took detailed notes while he
watched/studied the movie at my in-laws’ house, because it is necessary to
prepare in this way. For example, he made a point to pause the movie at this
point
The inside of Buzz's trunk
to take note of the contents. I had
actually done the same thing when creating questions for the game, so he was right on the money. We ended up
not using that question, but he was definitely on the right track. Brad and I
used a digital format for the game this year (rather than poster board), and I have to give Brad props for tweaking the free template we found so
that, instead of Jeopardy music, ours played music from the movie. Everyone
drew for teams, and the "Kevins" duked it out against the "Wet Bandits." We had six
question categories: Names, Numbers, Lists, Air Travel, Devilish Details, and
Strange Things to Say, and we also introduced the first ever “surprise team
face-offs” where, on certain questions, teams battled it out within a time
limit for the points (rather than alternating questions like the rest of the
game is designed). It was really fun and everyone did incredibly well. The Kevins
won, and the prizes were new toothbrushes, which were approved by the American
Dental Association, per Kevin’s requirements.
Our game. Doesn't that look so fancy and legit?
The Kevins and their toothbrushes
The menu this year was so terribly unhealthy,
as most of the food in the movie was chosen by Kevin, an 8-year-old boy. But because we are committed to our tradition, we ate
pizza, macaroni and cheese, shrimp cocktail, ice cream sundaes, and
chocolate-covered donuts. Oi.
Brad's plate.
For the gift-giving part of the party,
we each bring a gift that is inspired by the movie, and we have a Dirty
Santa-style swap. Over the years, everyone has gotten pretty good at choosing
gifts that are themed AND something you might actually want to go home with,
rather than a more White Elephant-style option. This is super for me, because I
HATE getting useless gifts. I have a personal rule that I won’t take anything
for the gift exchange that I wouldn’t be happy to go home with, so the gift I
took this year was a blue-green throw blanket (inspired by the one Kevin uses to hide as
a shepherd in the church nativity scene). It was soft and pretty and awesome,
and I’m happy to say that Barbara ended up going home with it (quite happily). It fits
perfectly in her living room. Brad took an
alarm clock with a back-up battery and assorted cool features (inspired by the alarm clock that failed to
wake up the McAllisters). We ended up going home with the alarm clock (Brad
really wanted it, so after my first and second gifts were stolen, I chose that
one), and a new iron (like the one that smashes Marv’s face). Some other gifts
that showed up this year were bottles of Tide, an awesome battery-powered
toothbrush with extra heads (I chose that first but it got stolen. Multiples
times.), a winter hat with a pom pom on top, an adult Home Alone coloring book
+ colored pencils, a picture frame with a picture of Buzz’s girlfriend (it was
a nice frame), toilet paper, a duffel bag, and fabric softener. Not a bad year
at all!
The pile of presents. Tim brought the gift that looks like a snow shovel. It wasn't at all, but we all gave him kudos for wrapping it to look like one!
Ashlen opened it. The curiosity was just too much!
Aunt Donna got some of the household items in her gift: fabric softener, Tide detergent, and toilet paper.
This was actually stolen from her, believe it or not.
The iron. And, you can see me wearing the second gift that I opened (and liked) and had stolen from me. I think the pom pom hat works for me, no?
Super fun adult coloring book (and colored pencils).
The costumes get better and better each
year, too! This year might have been my favorite yet, even though I had not had
high hopes. I kept thinking everyone was just going to dress in crazy 90’s
stuff, but everyone was so creative! Well, minus me. I wasn’t terribly
creative, but I did have to do
costumes for myself and both girls. I dressed at Kate (Kevin’s mom) in her
jammies the morning that they rush to the airport, Claire wanted to dress as
Kevin (her choice!), and I decided to dress Lily as a lamb from the nativity
scene that Kevin hides in outside of the church. I pretty much try never to
spend money on these costumes and was pretty proud of what I cobbled together.
Brad was more ambitious and creative and decked out as Johnny, the crazy
gangster in the movie Angels with Filthy
Souls that Kevin watches over and over. He even made his own Tommy gun out
of a cardboard box.
Kevin and lamby
Kate and Johnny
Bill dressed as Old Man Marley
Barbara dressed as the Christmas tree Kevin sets
up all by himself
Jenny and Chris dressed as Marv and Harry, the Wet
Bandits
Donna and JD dressed at Kate (the dressed nicely
version) and Harry
Papaw dressed as Kevin
Claire dressed as Kevin
Tim dressed as Kevin
Mamaw dressed as the pizza delivery guy from
Little Nero’s
Rachael dressed as “Buzz, your girlfriend…WOOF!”
The final four contestants for the costume contest. Rachael won!
Nikki wasn’t in costume, exactly, but she wore
this fun, themed shirt
And here are a few fun comparison
shots for you:
It was a great time and another great
THEME party in the books. We’ll skip next year (it’s an “outlaws” year…meaning
the married grandchildren will be at the spouse’s homes for Christmas), but we’ll
get it back in gear in 2018. We haven’t chosen a movie yet…any
recommendations?? I’m pulling for Eloise
as Christmastime, personally.
Screen shot from the movie...
Nikki's version for the party.
