{"id":1029,"date":"2012-12-09T11:05:53","date_gmt":"2012-12-09T11:05:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/?p=1029"},"modified":"2017-06-22T11:57:37","modified_gmt":"2017-06-22T11:57:37","slug":"second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"SECOND SLICE: WHO\u2019S DANCING WITH THE WATERMELON THIS YEAR?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 align=\"center\"><strong>The following was posted on the blog last year, but in the spirit of holiday tradition, I\u2019ve decided to post it again. Enjoy!<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3334\" title=\"pic\" src=\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/pic5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"315\" height=\"331\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As far as unusual holiday traditions go, this time of year probably has more than all of the other holidays <em>combined<\/em>. What would you expect from an occasion which asks you to cut down a tree, drag it into your house, drape in lights and gaudy decorations and place wrapped gifts under it? Pretty strange but, then again, that\u2019s part of what makes the holiday so special.<\/p>\n<p>One of the relatively normal traditions that I always looked forward to at my house when I was growing up, and one that I plan to carry over into my own family, was the ceremonial \u201cDancing with the Watermelon\u201d each Christmas Eve eve. (That\u2019s right, Christmas Eve <em>eve.<\/em>) It was followed, of course, by the \u201cChopping and Eating of the Watermelon\u201d the following day, which is pretty self-explanatory. Both events have been observed in my family for decades.<\/p>\n<p>For the Dancing with the Watermelon on December 23, the children of the household would gather in the center of the living room around the largest watermelon we could find at the local market. When all the children are assembled, the adults of the household stand around them while wearing Santa Claus beards and clap and whistle that family\u2019s traditional \u201cWatermelon Dance\u201d song. The song can be whatever you\u2019d like. In my house, it was the polka classic \u201cPolka Till You Can\u2019t Polka No More\u201d until I was about 10 years old, and then we changed it to a song my little brother wrote called \u201cWatermelon: I Love You!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the adults are clapping and whistling, the children take turns showing off their best dance moves around the watermelon. The tradition works better in families with lots of kids, because until my brothers were old enough to learn some steps, it was kind of awkward being the only kid dancing with the watermelon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following was posted on the blog last year, but in the spirit of holiday tradition, I\u2019ve decided to post it again. Enjoy! &nbsp; As far as unusual holiday traditions go, this time of year probably has more than all of the other holidays combined. What would you expect from an occasion which asks you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1030,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1029","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-general","8":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SECOND SLICE: WHO\u2019S DANCING WITH THE WATERMELON THIS YEAR? - What About Watermelon?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SECOND SLICE: WHO\u2019S DANCING WITH THE WATERMELON THIS YEAR? - What About Watermelon?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The following was posted on the blog last year, but in the spirit of holiday tradition, I\u2019ve decided to post it again. Enjoy! &nbsp; As far as unusual holiday traditions go, this time of year probably has more than all of the other holidays combined. What would you expect from an occasion which asks you [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"What About Watermelon?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-09T11:05:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-06-22T11:57:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pic51-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"419\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Watermelon Guy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Watermelon Guy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"The Watermelon Guy\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d3f87b9c2334e9fafb449128a814a665\"},\"headline\":\"SECOND SLICE: WHO\u2019S DANCING WITH THE WATERMELON THIS YEAR?\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-09T11:05:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-22T11:57:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/\"},\"wordCount\":346,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pic51-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"General\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/\",\"name\":\"SECOND SLICE: WHO\u2019S DANCING WITH THE WATERMELON THIS YEAR? - What About Watermelon?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pic51-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-12-09T11:05:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-22T11:57:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d3f87b9c2334e9fafb449128a814a665\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pic51-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pic51-1.jpg\",\"width\":399,\"height\":419},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"SECOND SLICE: WHO\u2019S DANCING WITH THE WATERMELON THIS YEAR?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/\",\"name\":\"What About Watermelon?\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d3f87b9c2334e9fafb449128a814a665\",\"name\":\"The Watermelon Guy\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/960fdebd230bf336d877193bb525115c5f953189175cc64ebea136cb4b173c99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/960fdebd230bf336d877193bb525115c5f953189175cc64ebea136cb4b173c99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/960fdebd230bf336d877193bb525115c5f953189175cc64ebea136cb4b173c99?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Watermelon Guy\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"SECOND SLICE: WHO\u2019S DANCING WITH THE WATERMELON THIS YEAR? - What About Watermelon?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"SECOND SLICE: WHO\u2019S DANCING WITH THE WATERMELON THIS YEAR? - What About Watermelon?","og_description":"The following was posted on the blog last year, but in the spirit of holiday tradition, I\u2019ve decided to post it again. Enjoy! &nbsp; As far as unusual holiday traditions go, this time of year probably has more than all of the other holidays combined. What would you expect from an occasion which asks you [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/","og_site_name":"What About Watermelon?","article_published_time":"2012-12-09T11:05:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-06-22T11:57:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":399,"height":419,"url":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pic51-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"The Watermelon Guy","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Watermelon Guy","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/"},"author":{"name":"The Watermelon Guy","@id":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d3f87b9c2334e9fafb449128a814a665"},"headline":"SECOND SLICE: WHO\u2019S DANCING WITH THE WATERMELON THIS YEAR?","datePublished":"2012-12-09T11:05:53+00:00","dateModified":"2017-06-22T11:57:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/"},"wordCount":346,"commentCount":2,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pic51-1.jpg","articleSection":["General"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/","url":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/","name":"SECOND SLICE: WHO\u2019S DANCING WITH THE WATERMELON THIS YEAR? - What About Watermelon?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pic51-1.jpg","datePublished":"2012-12-09T11:05:53+00:00","dateModified":"2017-06-22T11:57:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d3f87b9c2334e9fafb449128a814a665"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pic51-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/pic51-1.jpg","width":399,"height":419},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/2012\/12\/second-slice-whos-dancing-with-the-watermelon-this-year\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"SECOND SLICE: WHO\u2019S DANCING WITH THE WATERMELON THIS YEAR?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/","name":"What About Watermelon?","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/#\/schema\/person\/d3f87b9c2334e9fafb449128a814a665","name":"The Watermelon Guy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/960fdebd230bf336d877193bb525115c5f953189175cc64ebea136cb4b173c99?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/960fdebd230bf336d877193bb525115c5f953189175cc64ebea136cb4b173c99?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/960fdebd230bf336d877193bb525115c5f953189175cc64ebea136cb4b173c99?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"The Watermelon Guy"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whataboutwatermelon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}