Ma and Pa Halford's Speak Easy

I mentioned in a previous blog that while my sister was in town over Thanksgiving, we crammed a months worth of activities into one week. Because Kristen was in town, we held our annual family Christmas party the Saturday after Thanksgiving so they could participate for a change. This party has become legendary. Why? Well...


Many years ago my Mom and Dad threw a themed party. They took us on a "trip" to the North pole and everything from dinner to the activities were related to the North Pole. It was a huge hit and started a tradition. Since then we've partied in Mexico, Hawaii, had a cowboy cookout, and attended the Olympics...just to name a few. The last few years, children have changed the dynamic and this year the adults voted to have two parties. One for the kids and one for the adults. (The kids were cramping our style) When we arrived at my parents house, the front porch was decorated like a lawn and garden shop with all sorts of tools. The sign on the door read "Charlie's lawn and Garden Store." My dad was standing in front of the door with a "Security" sign on his back. He told us we couldn't enter unless we knew the password. Finally we got it right. "May we have some Christmas Pudding?" We entered and were offered "drinks" and given our "money" for the evening. There were gaming tables set up in the front room. For dinner, we had to order from a menu that only contained the names of famous gangsters. I actually picked mine dead on and was the only person who received utensils and courses in the right order. The evening was a blast. We finally got home and in bed about 11:00p.m. (Our flood occurred sometime between then and 3:40 a.m.) Kristen, let me know if you have any other pictures of the Speak Easy... this is the only one I ended up with.

Party number one was held earlier that day at the Classic Fun Center. The kids had a blast! At one point William, Me, Kristen and Nate left Grandma and Grandpa with all the kids and took in a game of laser tag. It was hysterical. It was only the four of us and then these two, young, 10- year-old punk boys. The smack talk started while we were suiting up. By the time the game started you'd have thought money was ridding on the outcome. We ran our butts off for a full 15 minutes and left sweaty with bruised knees. We realized how out of shape we all were. Those stinking boys were totally unaffected while we collapsed after they were out of sight. Good times! A video would be both priceless and a source of blackmail.