One of our Christmas traditions is to have a "snowball" fight. When we open presents we each have a paper bag where we keep the wrapping paper. Later, we have a "snowball" fight with the wrapping paper crumpled into balls.
As we open presents, with the kids hoarding away more and more paper, I always start wondering to myself "Why do we keep all this paper again? Is it really worth all the mess to have this mock snowball fight?" My annoyance with the tradition mounts as days go by and those paper bags full of paper are tripped over and spilled. When we came up with this tradition (I read about it in a Family Fun magazine) the plan was to have the snowball fight right after we opened presents Christmas morning. However, an immediate snowball fight has never happened. There have been years where the snowball fight was more of a New Years tradition than a Christmas tradition. So those bags of paper end up spilled and picked up (by me) a dozen times before we ever get to the fun part.
The kids ask day after day, "Can we have the snowball fight today?" reminding me of the mess and my inability to follow through quickly.
But as soon as we start the actual snowball fight I change my mental tune. The kids have so much fun whipping paper snowballs at each other. They always foolishly think they have a shot at out throwing their father. There is laughter and a healthy spirit of competition. Moreover, a paper snowball fight is waaaaay warmer and easier to clean up than an actual snowball fight.
At the end of the fight we all work together to round up every bit of paper. We rake the paper into a big pile and the kids make snow angles and bury each other in the "snow".
I love it...once we get around to doing it...
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