Happy New Year!

Ever since I was very small, one of my favorite traditions in our family is the Santa Claus pinata on Christmas Eve. My mom, an artist, paints Santa on a big paper bag. Then, she would cut tons of strips of white paper and would let us help her curl them for Santa's beard. The pinata was filled with candy, but also one present each from Santa Claus. This is a tradition that I really want to keep going with my family. But somehow it has been very difficult. With so much of Ryan's family around, we have so many parties going on, and Santa gets put on the back burner. This year, I kept making plans, but it kept not working out. So, this weekend I knew it was now or never. It seemed like such a HUGE effort to get out the Santa bag, figure out how to hang it, and of course, fill it. So we did an interesting version of this tradition. And the kids were just as happy. First we gathered the children. Then, I nicely handed each of them their gift from Santa. After they opened their presents, Ryan threw candy at them. And that's how you do a Happy New Year pinata!