Christmas Carnival – Maggie Style

Maggie informed us this afternoon that we were going to have a Christmas Carnival tonight. She then proceeded to plan it, give us directions, organize prizes, and pretty much orchestrate the whole evening.

First order of business was to create some lists. That girl loves to create some lists. I have NO IDEA where she gets that from (says the mommy with MUCH sarcasm). The first list was a list of games we were going to play.

Games for Carnival Night

Translation from 7 year old writing in a hurry: Pin the tail on the reindeer, Throw the ornaments, Reindeer rhymes, and Name that tune.

Then came the list of prizes. This list was  a little trickier because they had to already be in the house. So, the prizes were: 5 kisses from everyone else in the family, sweet treat of your choice, choose a Christmas book to read before bed, and get to open the first present on Christmas morning. She then cut up the list of prizes, folded them and put them in my hat.

Hat with prize choices

She drew a prize and assigned it to the next game on the list. So, we went into the carnival knowing what prize we were playing for. I thought that was pretty smart myself.

The first game was pin the tail on the reindeer. Maggie had drawn a reindeer and then cut out paper tails. She found the glue dots, and prepared a tail for each one of us. Maggie won this one, with Mommy coming in a close second. Daddy put his on the doorknob – pretty sure that was on purpose. Maggie gave each of us five kisses.

Maggie pinning her tail on the reindeer.

The next game was the ornament toss. I was “in charge” of this one so I go to set the rules. I forgot to mention that you had to stay behind a certain point to throw the balls (ornaments) into the bowls. So some little cutie got them “all” in. She won. And, she got the sweet treat of her choice (2 mini-donuts) after dinner.

Ornament Toss

We moved on to reindeer rhymes. This is apparently something they did in school last week. I’m not sure where the rhyming was supposed to come in, but Maggie read us a clue she had written about a Christmasy thing. It was a good clue. The answer was sled. Mommy won this one and got to pick the Christmas book for bedtime. We read “Merry Christmas, Strega Nona” – one of my favorites.

Reading Reindeer Rhymes

Finally, we played a round of Name that Tune with Christmas songs. Daddy was “in charge” of this one since he is the master of the iPod, and his was already hooked up to the stereo. Since he was DJing, Maggie and I were guessing. She barely won, but she did. That means she gets to open the first present on Christmas morning.

DJ Daddy Dave for Name That Tune

After our Christmas Carnival, she turned on “The Grinch” and announced it was Grinch and hot cocoa night. She had been planning that part of the evening for several weeks. We can’t cuddle and be snuggley on the couch on Christmas Eve because we are with family, and she wanted a snuggle and movie night. So, she decided sometime this month that Christmas Eve Eve was going to be Grinch and hot cocoa night.

Hot Cocoa and Marshmallows - Yum

She planned and executed the whole Christmas Carnival with very little guidance from us. It was a fun family evening, and one I know I’ll never forget. I have a feeling it may become a tradition.

What traditions are you engaging in tonight?

Linked to Tip Junkies Christmas Show and Tell.

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