Cousins and Christmas

We Like to Party.

A few days ago was the annual Harper Family Cousins' Night. My husband's side of the family celebrates this special bond of cousin-hood in a once-per-year celebration of silliness and wonder. Brian and Kelley, the fearful party ringleaders, truly outdid themselves this year by throwing a shin-dig that no one could ever forget. I believe the word EPIC was thrown around quite a bit on this glorious night.

Why is this event so wonderful? Well for starters, in past years, there has been a costume contest. I have dressed up as Cindy Lou-hou (I made Stevie go as The Grinch. Two words: Green beard!) and we once dressed as "Two Turtle Doves" where I decked out as a sparkly white dove and Stevie dressed as a Ninja Turtle. There are always prizes, ranging from inappropriate gag gifts to gift cards to gallons of candy. And it wouldn't be cousins night without family-themed games, which strikes a special chord in the Harper cousins, since everyone is insanely type-A and competitive. It's one of my favorite events of the entire year, because I truly love these cousins as my own and it's a ridiculously fun time together, sans babies and parents. How often does that ever happen? In our case, one a year.

CN 2012.

This year's party details were kept under lock and key in order to maintain an element of surprise. We were instructed to arrive ON TIME and in pajamas, so we assumed we would be doing breakfast for dinner this year. Oh, that was only the beginning. This year's party contained the following:

A scavenger hunt through Atlanta in two teams of limousines, where we hunted for Christmas-themed items (example: Find a glass of eggnog! An African American Santa! A menorah!) and then we had to photograph these items on one official team iPhone (mine was chosen, iPhone 5 duh.) We had 2 hours to arrive back to the house on time or else a point was deducted for each minute we were late. We had coolers for each limo containing various appetizers and drinks and we had limo drivers that were up for this spastic holiday task. IT WAS BOSS.

5 Golden Rings//

We found a pack of gold bracelets.

4 Calling Birds//

We found four different bird ornaments. Call me maybe.

Mistletoe//

DON'T FREAK OUT! We are not those kinds of cousins! Everyone making out in this photo is NOT related! Those snogging one another are either married or dating. And Garrett has his bear.

Open Fire//

We busted in on a private party at Park Tavern because, well, it was the only open fire we knew of in the area. And then we were immediately ushered out.

Your Dinner, My Liege.

When we got back to the house, there were two private chefs preparing us a fanciful breakfast for dinner. I am not kidding. We cousins compared our scavenged findings and MY team was declared the winner. Woop woop! I think the Harper competitiveness might be rubbing off on me. Beware.

An Affair to Remember.

I had a complete blast and wish the night could go on and on. It was wonderful to catch up with family that we rarely see and just have a dang good time. I laughed A LOT. After all, isn't that what the holidays should be all about? Major shout out to Brian and Kelley and all the Harper cousins. Thank you!