Brianna Walker

I’m a firm believer in breaking up the daily routine. Schedules are nice, but if we follow them too closely, our day is scripted before we ever get out of bed. It limits the “fun factor” of life. I know life shouldn’t be just cake and games — but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. I don’t mean quitting your job or changing careers to “find your passion” — just squeezing in a bit of unscripted silliness from time to time.

This year, our holidays were packed with silly-fun moments. We hosted our annual tree decorating contest. It’s one of my favorite parties of the year. This is not a contest where groups of people decorate real trees with lovely decorations in hopes of winning a prize. Instead, it is a party where groups of people attempt to work together to overcome challenges that they are intentionally sabotaged with — all while creating something that resembles a decorated tree. This year one team was tasked with creating a tree out of a pile of scrap lumber and kindling — an IKEA meets Christmas tree.

The second team had the remnants of a burned rake wheel, a roll of fishing line and several bags of pine cones. We weren’t sure what they’d come up with, but figured with a little Christmas magic they’d be just pine.

We took our contest to new heights this year with a zipline tree. This team had to build a hanging tree out of balloons and baler twine — while harnessed in a zipline over the rest of the shop festivities. It definitely added quite a pop to the party.

Then there was the surfing tree. The team who won the bid of this tree had to decorate it while “hanging 10” on a surfing swing. The tree itself was connected by pulleys to a drill press that kept it spinning. If laughter is the best medicine, I was well doctored that evening watching this team try to keep their ornaments from flying in every direction.

The “Oh-Fish-Al tree,” built at a previous party out of cardboard tubes for the bale plastic, was hung high above the floor and had to be decorated using only fishing poles — it was pretty fin-tastic.

And last was Mount Saint Claus, our volcano tree. Before creating this tree, its team had to lower each of their members inside the framed black plastic using a chain hoist and harness. They were tasked with creating a Christmas tree of great magma-tude out of glowsticks and tape.

The evening ended with a crazy white elephant exchange where people unloaded old tennis shoes, bags of buttons, and books on pregnant belly painting. There was much laughter, creativity — and fun.

The holidays continued in this vein of silly when Christmas morning rolled around and we began opening presents. A sign of a Kodak moment is when the giver starts giggling before the receiver has even torn the wrapping. The Eastman Kodak Co. would not have been disappointed by the photos that were soon snapped. My dad had tasked my mom in sewing a pair of bright pink pajama pants for my husband. Amid snorts of laughter, someone shouted in a high falsetto voice: “I don’t like it, I don’t like it one bit.” My husband pulled them on over his jeans and strutted across the room singing: “I want to sing and dance … in my pretty pink pants.”

Ray Stevens and his songs are fully integrated with my family and our vocabulary: My husband calls my dad “Margaret;” weed eaters will always be closely associated with live chickens; and no one wants to sit up with the dead. If you don’t quickly recognize the references, I suggest YouTube and laughter tonight. Stevens also sings a song about pirates and their pretty pink pants which my husband sings often. In actuality the song says, “I want to sing and dance … wear me silver buckled slippers and me tight shiny pants,” but I’m sure if Ray Stevens would have thought of it, he would have quickly “fixed” the lyrics.

New Year’s was no different. We donned crazy, crazy locks as we headed to a “wig-out party.” Life’s often full of stress, full of intense, full of hard—but that doesn’t mean we can’t squeeze in silly fun. In the upcoming year, my wish for you and your family is that you can make some silly-fun memories by breaking up the daily routine.