New Year's Day tradition

Yesterday, we had the annual Cox Christmas party. Each year we get together at Grandma and Grandpa Cox's house in Tooele on New Years Day and have a party. This always includes a huge lunch and then {as long as I can remember} the kids break a pinata that Aunt Jan has made, followed by some sort of a gift exchange and yummy beef jerky from Grandpa and Grandma.

This is them, Grandpa is looking pretty good considering he had a heart attack the week before Christmas and is just home for the holidays as he awaits triple bypass surgery.

As I said before - there is usually a pinata {it went away for a few years when all of us cousins had grown up and were starting to have kids of our own} but as of last year it is back in full swing! {there are 14 great-grandkids now!} Look how adorable it was this year - a penguin, with a heart on its butt! There was tons of anticipation as all of the kids anxiously watched them hoist it up.My kids enjoyed this SOOO much and it brought so many memories back to me. The best was that Adi was the one to break it! {something I never accomplished in my 15+ years of participation} It was stuffed with small toys and candy so they all made quite the haul, Adi's bag was overflowing! Luke and Paislee didn't have the "scoop" down and were pretty particular in choosing each piece of candy before it went into their bag. Their uncles were frantically trying to help them grasp the "more is better" concept. Silly Paislee wouldn't let go of her bag once it was full and insisted on carrying it all on her own up the stairs.
I am so grateful that my kids can participate in these traditions so many years later! Fun times!