Scribble Picnic - HOLIDAY PARTY

We have standing plans on New Year's Eve to spend it with our Table 7 family.  The location is rotated every year, the menu is changed up year-to-year, some "activities" may change year-to-year, but the one constant is beer pong.  This is not your current college beer pong format of throwing the ball at the cup(s).  No.  This is the original form of beer pong.  Played on a ping pong table with paddles, a ball, and cups of beer.  

Full cups of beer are placed at specific points on the table.  If it's a singles game, the cup is one paddle up from the edge on the center line - 2 cups on the table.  If it's doubles, the cup is one paddle in from the lower edge and the side edge - 4 cups on the table.  When playing doubles they have to alternate serves and hits just like conventional ping pong.  The object being to hit the opponent's cup to make them take a drink - usually 4 sips to a cup.  If you get the ball in the cup they have to chug a whole cup.  Our male counterparts in this Table 7 family have been playing this game this way since 1973 when one of them (HWNSNBP) learned the game in college and subsequently brought it back for the gang to play.  

Though they may have slowed down over the years, they are still very capable of hitting the cup as you can see in the video below.

These days they're usually only good for about 5 games, but there have been other occasions when they've been at it all afternoon in tournament form.

There are 9 members of this Table 7 family.  All but one of us grew up in the same town.  All but two of us went to the same high school.  The longest friendship of the group are two that have known each other since first grade.  We began calling ourselves Table 7 when the first child of the group got married and we were assigned Table 7 at the wedding.  Since then, it is an unwritten rule that no matter where in the room they put us, our table is 7.

In the past, for our NYE menu, we've tackled sub sandwiches, lasagna night, chili night, pizza night, and we even had a meatloaf cook-off a couple of years ago that evolved from a little bit of bragging of who had the best recipe.  This year we opted for Sicilian pizza's and all brought our own favorite toppings.  There are always some delicious appetizers and we are never at a loss for desserts as we all usually have goodies left from the holidays that we bring to share.  We reminisce and laugh until our sides hurt - there have been many good stories along the years.  We toast in the New Year with the NYC ball drop with the traditional champagne and sparkling cider.  

It's not fancy but it's fun and we all look forward to having many more years together.

Whew, I know that was long, and it's late - I had all but forgotten that today was the day for this Scribble Picnic challenge and then I saw Christine's post on Instagram this morning and knew what I would be doing right after work today.   However, we decided to run some quick errands tonight, kind of a wild goose chase you might say which I will post about at another time.  So I got an even later start.  So right now, before the time frame runs out, I will draw and end to this and head on over to Michael's blog to see how the other picnickers are celebrating their holiday parties.  You can join me by clicking here.