Boxing Day Shindig

We hosted the yearly Christmas get-together with our closest friends of over 20 years at our house on Boxing Day. It was a cheery lunch with fantastic company, plenty of food and super boisterous kids. YM, LP, BK and PF arrived bright and early around 11am, and I ordered a nasi lemak buffet with home-cooked fried bee hoon for a simple lunch. YM made delicious strawberry jelly cheesecake for dessert, complete with juicy cherries, and BK brought ice-cream. There were also waffles for the little kids from LP. Hubby ordered a roast chicken, chicken hot dogs and ham, but the food was just too much that we did not heat those up. 

Hubby surprised me with a list of party games and prizes he had prepared a few nights ago, and volunteered to be the party games host to 9 rambunctious children. He also decorated the house with balloons and a Santa Claus poster. Short of dressing up as Santa himself (which I suggested to him, haha!), he was all ready to face 9 active kids alone on Boxing Day.

While the ladies sat around the dining table, munching and yakking away, Hubby - with the assistance of the rest of the husbands - directed the kids in different games stations with skilful finesse, much to my amazement! The night before, he printed out an ambitiously long list of games stations for the kids, and they managed to complete 6 stations:

1) Snakes and ladders as the opening game, using our gigantic DIY gameboard. 

2) Word game Zingo

3) Remote-controlled F1 racing cars at the corridor outside our home

4) Fishing in 60 seconds, which was a hot favourite, comprising of each kid attempting to "fish" as many magnetic fishes from a tub of water within 60 seconds

5) Wii Sports of tennis and bowling, which got all the kids hot and sweaty

6) And finally, after most of the families left, Eugene, Claire and Big Bee indulged in a game of Castle Panic, which they won against the monsters! 

Thanks to Hubby, I could chat with my friends in peace, although the kids did create a deafening din with sheer exhilaration and excitement! Medals and small prizes were given out to winners and non-winners alike, so every child went home with something. 

As each year passes, all of us cherish such gatherings more, especially with each other's busy lives. From gawky teenagers to young adults to mothers, I am grateful that I have such close friends to share life's journey's fulfillments. It is also very satisfying to see all our children bonding so well with each other, and hopefully, they would be good friends in future as well!