Family Gathering

Saturday night the entire Chesapeake Bay Family and a few friends converged to celebrate my father's 71st birthday, which happens to be today.

The spirits were flowing spirit was festive, and the mood upbeat.

We enjoyed a leisurely dinner peppered with stories from my sisters' youth, punctuated with lots of laughter.

After a delicious meal, the Chesapeake Bay Children helped serve dessert, which was a chocolate fudge spoon cake with Oreo cookie ice cream. They drizzled the plates with chocolate syrup and added a strawberry for color.

There's a strawberry on there, but thanks to my camera's inability to do anything in low light, you'll have to take my word for it.

After the last bit of dessert was polished off and the dishes were cleared, I announced the next phase of the festivities for our 71-year-old parent: Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

Yes. Pin the Tail on the Donkey.

I'd gone to the Dollar General earlier that day to pick up a few last minute things and saw the game hanging prominently in the party section.

I knew we must have this game.

Because how many chances do we have as adults to play Pin the Tail on the Donkey with a 71-year-old father? It's not like these opportunities come knockin' every day.

So I bought it and was very pleased with my purchase.  The look of horror on my teenagers' faces as I set up the game did not deter me one single bit.

Middle Sis, who did not follow the rules of the game, was number 14 there and technically hers was the closest to the tail. Notice all the other honest players who ended pinning the tail on the wall.

The rules were quite simple. NO CHEATING. THE END.

But some of us weren't able to follow those simple instructions. Instead of holding the blindfold against their eyes and using one hand to blindly pin the tail on the donkey, Some Sister People peeked. Also, you were not supposed to feel around. Once your hand landed on something, that's where the tail was supposed to be pinned. Again, Some People didn't follow that rule. They squinted, they felt around multiple times, and then they self-declared as the winner.

Not everyone cheated, however.

Some people hit the china cabinet instead of the donkey or even the wall near the donkey.

This is Baby Sister's attempt. She was playing Pin the Eyebrow on the Donkey.
But at least she didn't cheat! (Bravo, Baby Sis.)

Our neighbors, who probably could not believe they were invited to a party that entailed such a serious and competitive round of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.  

Happy Birthday, Chesapeake Bay Father!

I fully expect Middle Sister to remark about her Pin the Tail prowess and explain how she won fair and square. But as the moderator for the whole activity I have to say that I wholeheartedly disagree and must issue a challenge for a rematch.

For the official rules of Pin the Tail on the Donkey, a game usually played by five year olds (or Forty Somethings, Fifty Somethings, Sixty Somethings and Seventy Somethings if you're invited to a party of mine), click here.