The December holiday in 2020 has been like none other.

In normal circumstances, it would have been the year for our family to gather in-person to celebrate. This would have involved 20 of us hanging out in small spaces together at all times, which we call “glomming”. These gatherings usually involve a lot of games, a lot of food, and a lot of laughing.

This year, however, in many places, governments have recommended limiting in-person gatherings to reduce the spread of COVID-19. And so my sister Rachel came up with an adaptation to our in-person Glomfest gatherings that created an amazingly great opportunity for helping us remain connected over the holidays: “the 12 Days of Glom”.

The 12 Days of Glom involved meeting for 2 hours each day starting on Dec 21 for 12 days in a row until January 1. For each of the 12 days, families alternated in coming up with the games and activities.

During the 12 days we unscrambled words, did a scavenger hunt, finished the lyrics to songs, played Pictionary, played name that tune, played Bingo, celebrated my Dad’s 81rst birthday and invented a few new games along the way. The kids also arranged separate times to play a big game of cousins Among Us, which had them connecting and laughing as well.

Creating memories and moments of laughter

Just like during our in-person family gatherings, there have been moments where we laugh and laugh and laugh to the point where we can hardly breathe and tears are rolling down our cheeks.

Two games routinely do this in our family: Pictionary and the Name that Tune. In Pictionary, there is something soooo funny about the person who is drawing just tapping their pencil over and over again on the relevant part of the drawing (which is often far too small to discern what it is) and looking exasperated at everyone for not knowing what it is. Equally hilarious are those moments when the person drawing the picture keeps circling it and drawing arrows. My personal favourite is when it’s clear the person drawing has a new idea and they add something to the drawing that they think will definitely make it all very clear but it doesn’t help at all.

In Name that Tune, we always laugh hysterically at those moments when the person humming the tune is just humming to their hearts content and no one has any idea what the song is. And inevitably, the more times the person hums the tune, the funnier it becomes (thanks for the laughs Mom!).

For a new twist, one of my nieces came up with a painting challenge which involved us only listening to the audio of a Bob Ross instructional video and creating a painting. It was a challenge to try and figure out what “up here” and “over to the side” meant for our paintings in progress. As the end, we all showed our paintings to one another and no two looked similar at all. Several made us laugh out loud (I knew I should have stopped before putting that final tree right at the front of my landscape!). And then at the very end, my niece showed us what Bob Ross’ painting looked like. That was a surprise and once again, we laughed and laughed and laughed.

Another creative niece led some activities through Jackbox. Our favourite as a group was the t-shirt challenge where we draw a design on the t-shirt in the app and then made up slogans. Many of the slogans were inside jokes that only would make sense to us like “More rice pleeeease!”, “Fan the rice faster!” and “Glom…glom…glommmmmm.” Again, as we saw the t-shirt designs, we laughed and laughed.

Learning new things about each other

Through the 12 Days of Glom, we also had the opportunity to learn new things about each other. We had a variety of activities that draw on people’s strengths – their love of drawing or dancing or singing or words. And the same activities were challenging for others, which often created moments of hilarity.

People were very creative in coming up with the activities for the Glom.  My nephew, who is the youngest member of the Glom, used his Bingo machine to call out the winning numbers during Bingo games. Many of us didn’t know he had a bingo machine so it was pretty impressive to watch him, as the youngest, lead the activity.

On another day, we had the opportunity to participate in a game from my sister Naomi’s other side of the family. It was a Spanish language bingo game called Loteria.  It was a lot of fun and we got to learn Spanish words as a bonus. This experiment in virtual glomming turned out to be a wonderful way for people to be creative and for us all to learn more about one another.

Stepping out of our comfort zones

On one family zoom, my daughter choreographed a dance routine and taught all 20 of us the routine. She also adapted the routine for people who couldn’t jump or who remained seated so they could participate by doing the arm actions. Then each family performed it in their little zoom square as a practice run, and then we recorded a hilarious video of us all doing the dance together at the end.

It was so funny – there was lots of laughing – and although less polished, it was a bit like a flash mob, especially because Aunt Char joined later and came in just in time for the final dance performance. It was clear that for some of us, the dancing was a lot harder than for others. It took many of us out of our comfort zones but, in the end, we all had a great time learning and performing the routine. We then set the video to music and shared it back with the group, which was yet another opportunity to for us all to laugh and laugh and laugh.

Recreating family dynamics

Like at all holiday gatherings, there have also been moments where family tensions have arisen (“Are our daily zooms too long? Does everyone have to participate?”). In some ways, replicating these family dynamics is a sign that the 12 Days of Glom was a success.

At the in-person gatherings, we inevitably have people who ask whether it is too much to have breakfast, go shopping, have lunch, go to see a movie and then have dinner together in a group of 20 all on the same day. My sister Rachel’s answer is always my favourite: “If you need time to yourself, go to the bathroom. That is the only time you will have away from the Glom. So go in there, take a deep breath, and then come back out and glom with everyone else! We are all tired but remember… the hassle is the fun!”

The 12 Days of Glom ended on January 1. Just as at our in-person visits, there was a mixture of sadness and relief that it had come to an end. We were all relieved that the hassle of organizing each day’s activities was over and we were sad that it had all come to an end. Several people did ask, if we were meeting again the next day, which again was a sign that the 12 Days of Glom was a success.

As a family with a lot of experience in extreme togetherness, we will (of course) continue our twice weekly family zooms, which we put in place when the pandemic started. And no doubt we will continue revisiting the hilarious experiences that that we shared during the 12 Days of Glom.

Next on my list: finishing off the video about “What we appreciate about Grandad”, which was one of the birthday celebration activities that we had during the 12 Days of Glom. It will provide yet another way for all of us to look back and remember the wonderful moments that the 12 Days of Glom created for us as a family.

This certainly was a memorable holiday.  Although we missed the opportunity to connect in person, the COVID restrictions provided us with the new experiences that will create lasting memories for our family.  It certainly has been a holiday like no other.

We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below this article.

Photo by Compare Fibre on Amvia

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