Family gatherings at my parents’ house generally go something like this:
My husband: Hey, let’s get a movie tonight.
Me: Yeah, that would be great. I’ll help you pick one.
Mom: Sounds like a good idea. Let’s get something funny. With Meg Ryan.
Dad: Or we could get that new thriller that was just released. With Daniel Craig.
Brother: Yeah, I might go out with my friends.
Tension builds
Me: Or, we could play a game?
Reluctantly, Everyone: Sure, we could do that.
The games of choice at my parents’ house are homemade Pictionary and homemade Charades, which are basically the same game except in one of them you get to draw. These sound harmless, I know, but the competitive gene runs deep. I didn’t just happen to be a kid who loved to win. I mean, I got it from somewhere. Therefore, if my 12-year old doesn’t act out “Mission Impossible” with dexterity and finesse, my dad is likely to, um, well, let’s just say he can get a bit peeved.
And, as you can imagine, my mother does not appreciate the finer points of his competitive spirit. “He’s a child!” she’s likely to chide. To which, always, my dad will pretend that he was only trying to help, he wasn’t frustrated, angry, disgusted, or any such thing. How could we even think that?! (The nerve.)
My brother hangs out in the background, participating at a low enough level to also text his friends and keep up with the ball game on TV, which my mom didn’t want on in the first place. The added intrusion of texting adds a lovely patina of thinly veiled anger to the evening. Throw in an actual call to his cell and things get very interesting.
All this goes round and round, holiday after holiday, year after year, and in our own strange way we look forward to it, games and all. We consume calories we shouldn’t, laugh for most of it, endure the tension-filled moments, and try to reconnect with people we truly love. And it should be this way, right? Because there’s always the possibility it will be different this time. Like this year, maybe, just maybe, I’ll win at Charades. And for that I will be very thankful.
This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network’s blog blast. This week it’s sponsored by Electronic Arts, & they’re giving away fun, family-focused video games just in time to ease the tension at the upcoming holiday gatherings.
We have decided to start game night here at my house. Now, being that my children are still under 4, our games are Candyland and Chutes and Ladders. he he. Point being…we are having fun as a family.
I’m just itching to play some Pictionary. My parents will probably hide the game so we can’t play it though!
Oh, I’ve seen you play games! I would seriously like to be a fly on the wall to watch all of you play together!! I bet that would be entertaining 🙂
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
Look how cute your family is!!!
Good luck at charades!
We end up playing bingo. I always complain that it’s an old peoples game, one of the kids inevitably dumps their card halfway through, and there’s usually an argument over who gets to be the caller. And yet – we do it every year. And…ti’s just the way it is…and in the end, it ends up being fun and something we’ll always remember…
Keep the tradition alive…
I think it sounds lovely. I am used to living far from my family, but during the holidays I miss them. Even when my parents come visit for Christmas, I still miss the times when we’d all get together, all my aunts and uncles and my cousins, and play bingo and charades and cards on Christmas and New Year’s. If we still did that I would probably complain though – it;s one of those things that you don’t fully appreciate when you can enjoy it I think 🙂
Heh, in our family it’s Scrabble–we can be VERY competitive about it! I don’t have a sullen younger brother to liven things up, but I suppose in a few years that’ll be my son…
I’m OK, as long as we don’t play Monopoly. I like your versions here… Love the meg reference.
I know I already read this one, but wanted to tell you I love your snowy tree picture 🙂
I hope you win! Maybe I’ll suggest some game playing this year.