Master of Questions (and other Nonsense)

Trivial Problem

I’ve been asked by my boss to act as Emcee for Holiday Trivia at our Christmas Meeting/Gathering. There will be some training before hand, catered dinner, and Holiday Trivia.

I’ve never been to a Trivia night at any local bar or pub. Because of this, I really have no idea how they play. I know a few bloggers who have and some friends who go, but it seems that every place does it a bit differently. Getting questions for this is no issue – all I had to do was go into my folder of Christmas trivia I used when I was on the radio. It is the execution of the game itself that I don’t know.

The basic gist of the thing is that there are 2-5 rounds of questions. Teams write their answers to the questions on a piece of paper or on index cards. There are points for getting the right answers. Some places wager on questions based on the topic. I really am clueless. I plan on doing some sort of search online to see the best way to do this.

Have you ever been to one of those trivia nights? Any suggestions?

Our doc is probably sick…. of us!

Over the past 10-11 days, every one of us has been to the doctor. Today, I had both kids in the office again because their coughing sounded awful. We were worried that the gunk we all got was in their chest and might lead to pneumonia.

I swear, between in office visits, ER visits, telemedicine calls, and messages back and forth through the office portal, our doc has got to be sick of seeing our names! On the other hand, she might just thank us for making her house payment this month!

Chilly Fun

Daisy finally got to go outside in the snow. She wasn’t really sure what to make of it. She was biting at the falling snow for a bit and really didn’t know what to think about walking on it. It didn’t take long and she was running round and rolling in it. She was even eating it off the ground.

The kids were insistent about going outside when the snow fell. Neither was feeling great, but they wanted to see the snow. We bundled them up real good and we were outside for 10-15 minutes. In that time we started to build a snowman.

At first glance, in the above photo it looks like Andrew is putting the snowman’s head on. That, however, was not the case. He has actually removed it and about 2 seconds later, he threw it on the ground. Then he and his sister jumped on the rest of the poor snowman. Sigh.

Elfin’ Around Again

The Elf on the shelf is back and once again, I have to be creative with it. I’ve been lacking a bit, but the kids still get a kick out of it. Two nights ago, I just put it on top of the TV looking down. The laughed at that more than the Elf and Barbie looking at Christmas lights…

Last night, I printed some pictures of the elf and made it cover all our faces in the pictures on the wall…

Perfect Gift

I’m not sure who might read this, but this will be a bit cryptic. My wife’s Christmas present is on the way. All I will say is that I may have mentioned something about it in a past blog. I have seen some pictures and I cannot wait to see it in person. I truly believe that this will be a BIG surprise for her and I hope that she will love it!

I’ve had to tell her that there is a package arriving and that she cannot open it when it comes.

Turkey Week

The turkey is in the fridge thawing out and should be ready for the oven by Thursday morning. We always cook it in a bag, and it usually comes out ok. I’m looking forward to a simple Thanksgiving holiday.

I’ve always loved this picture of Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson from Sanford and Son

I follow Joe Lennon Cartoons on Facebook and he’s had some great cartoons on his page. He did a whole month of Halloween themed cartoons and he’s posting Thanksgiving themed ones now. Two favorites:

I was sad to hear of the passing of a Detroit Tiger great – Willie Hernandez. He was part of the amazing bullpen that helped us win the 1984 World Series. He had just recently celebrated his 69th birthday. He was so fun to watch! Rest well, Willie.

We had some Christmas photos taken last week. The kids were crazy! They would hardly sit still. Ella, who went to the doctor today, may have been at the beginning of her illness for pictures. She was not her “smiley” self. They should be available for download by tomorrow, but a couple preview pictures wound up on our photographer’s Facebook page.

Can’t wait to see the rest of them. I pray we got at least one good family photo for Christmas Cards!

Speaking of Christmas, I was reminded by my wife that after Thanksgiving, the Elf on the Shelf has to make her return. Last year I really struggled to come up with fun ideas. I don’t even know what to do this year! I guess Sam bought some Elf shirts for the kids that “Twinkles” will bring with her when she returns. I probably should have been planning for the month of Elf stuff long before now….

Taking “Elf-ies” – Part 2

When we first got Twinkles, our Elf on the Shelf, from Sam’s mom, I wasn’t sure that we’d be up for creating something new for it every night leading up to Christmas. Over the last month, I discovered an Elf on the Shelf Facebook group with ideas and stumbled across many on the internet as well.

I won’t lie, it has actually been very fun to do every night. Ella loves waking up and searching for her elf. Twinkles will be heading back to the North Pole on Friday night to help Santa get ready for his ride and deliveries. I’m sure next year she will have as much fun or more!

We may or may not have to recycle some of these ideas in years to come. Here are a few of my favorites from the past few weeks.

Twinkles the action hero! Zip lining to the tree.

TPing the tree! Festive, right?!

Sam gave her some wings!

Ella had been talking about paper snow flakes. I got to make a mess and she loved it!

When we were all sick, it only made sense to give Twinkles a cold, too!

Sam grabbed Ella’s princesses and they had a little dessert party.

Twinkles threw “snow balls” at all of us in pictures on the wall!

She obviously had so much fun with the “snow balls” that she challenged one of Ella’s Barbie dolls.

When Ella woke up, I didn’t say anything. I was making her chocolate milk and she looked up and saw Twinkles. She looked at me, then back at Twinkles, then back at me and said, “Daddy! Twinkles is in my chips!” Priceless.

Last night, Sam sent me this at work in a text message that read, “See? I can be creative, too!” I laughed out loud!

I may have to start planning next year’s Elf things ahead! This was fun!

Are We Creative Enough To Do This For a Month?

I swore up and down that I would never do the whole Elf on the Shelf thing. Sometimes, however, circumstances make you go back on your word.

My mother-in-law sent home an Elf on the Shelf before Thanksgiving. So now, we’re in it to win it. Ok, we’ll do the best we can to make it happen!

The story (as I’ve heard it) behind this whole thing is that some kids wondered how Santa could know how kids were bad or good. The answer? He sends these “scouting” elves to the homes of children to watch them. At bedtime, they go back to the North Pole and report to Santa. They return before morning and find a different place to keep an eye on the children. The child cannot touch the elf, or it loses its magic and may not return. This could easily get them on the naughty list!

As a parent, it’s our job to find a creative place to place the elf every night. You have no doubt seen many of the humorous things people have come up with. Some are not very kid friendly.

The story says that once the child names their elf, they get their magic and officially become part of the family. After some discussion Ella passed on Snowflake and instead decided on Twinkle (which has since become Twinkles).

A buddy of mine noted that from far away, you can’t really tell if the elf is a boy or a girl. Close up you can see ours is a girl.

And for those who still want to question it … it says she is a girl right on the box!

Anyway, we watched a short movie on Netflix with Ella and Andrew, read the book that told the story, and then they were off to bed. Day 1 was a simple one. Right above the fireplace on the mantle.

Day 2’s idea was found in the internet. We grabbed one of her mini Nana blankets to make it work. Twinkles camped out in the fridge.

Chilly, but elves are used to that, right?!

Sam worked the next night, so it was up to me to think of what to do. This may or may not have been influenced by an action movie or two. Twinkles was zip lining to the Christmas tree.

For day 4, I wanted to have her hanging from the ceiling fan, but the bucket/cup I put her in kept tipping and she’d fall out. Instead, I used the cup and hung her from the magnetic clip on the side door. It kinda looks like the hot air balloon ride went wrong and she crash landed on the clip.

This morning, on Facebook, my friends Matt and Tricia posted that they got an elf for their son. I immediately commented and told them I was glad that there would be someone I could steal ideas from!

The elf goes “home” Christmas Eve … feel free to share your ideas, too!! Kid friendly, of course.