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With grateful hearts, we share our thoughts on redemption through Jesus Christ and His saving blood and what it looks like in our daily walk.

We gladly welcome your comments and input.
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AND since we hold our conservative values dear, we might have a thing or two to say about politics... and we can almost guarantee it won't be politically correct.



Saturday, January 10, 2009

The Games People Play


Board games can be a great family activity. Or not.

One of my favorite recent family memories was when we stayed in a mountain lodge during Thanksgiving a few years back. There were no phones, and no TV's. It was great! Every night after dinner our family gathered for a long night of playing board games by the fireplace. Balderdash was the game of choice that vacation. A certain family member impressed us all and became famous for her "hijinks and hilarium" phraseology in that hilarious and fun game. Did you know Balderdash means "nonsense"?

I've always liked to play board games but haven't always taken the time to sit down TO PLAY THEM. I'm learning how to have more fun in my life and one way to do that is to do more of the things I enjoy doing with the people I enjoy.

On our most recent family vacation this past Thanksgiving, we played Fact or Crap. I know, it sounds disgusting. But the object is to determine whether the statement being read aloud is indeed Fact or Crap. That one was pretty fun. The best part is that several people can play at one time with two on each team.

Some of the other games we have gotten stuck on for periods of time are Boggle, Battle of the Sexes, Imagineiff, Men Are From Mars, Yahtzee, Uno, Othello (that one brings back some memories), Taboo, Checkers, and Dominoes ... geesh, I didn't realize there were so many until I started writing. Anyway, you get the idea.

We also play Sequence. Sequence is my new favorite of all time. Prior to now I had to wait until I was at my daughter's or sometimes she brought her game to my house. She gave me my very own game for Christmas this year! Thanks again, my Precious!

Hubby is even playing this one with me. He doesn't typically go for sitting around playing board games but he likes this one. We played outside at the beach this past weekend and when at home he plays with me on the back porch.

What about you? Does your family like the board games activity night? What are your favorites? I can't really think of one I don't like but maybe you have those that you don't like to play.

10 comments:

marmee said...

marmee said...
we go through seasons of what we like to play. with just the adults we play poker or rummy. rummikub has always been a favourite. we also play sequence, triopoly, life, uno, scrabble, risk, monopoly, taboo, table topics, charades, pictionary(not anymore, after the last time),dominos,yahtzee.
blurt is another one to get the blood pumping.
with the littles-break the ice, memory, dora uno, go fish, and polly pockets.
we are a game loving family.
we have a car game we play a lot. it doesn't sound nice but it is perfectly innocent. it's called the f-word game. one person picks a letter and you have to say a word beginning with that letter so you go around until you can't think of a another word or you repeat a word already given. this passes much car riding time on our longer excursions.

gigi said...

i was so sure this post was by mlm until i got to reading further! she is the game queen of all time! i always expect her to plan the games for any get together.
the most interesting part of this post was your statment "I'm learning how to have more fun in my life and one way to do that is to do more of the things I enjoy doing with the people I enjoy." i hope to be on that list for some of your free time. and any game you choose suits me, but my favorite is still scrabble of course. i know, i know, it is a long game and a thinking game, not so much for laughs, but it is a good mental exercise.
board games seem to be reviving in interest. maybe because TV is so stupid and boring most of the time. i'm sure you have to plan the playing around the sports season, whatever time of year that is;-)
sequence is one game i don't like - it is too frustrating! games should be fun, with plenty of laughs. like cranium (which you didn't mention) which we haven't played in a while. it is kind of hard to get a game going with just two players, but yahtzee or dominoes can be fun. mexican train is a good dominoes game for a few players. we played hours of this game with abbey and gwyn last summer.
how about a family game night soon?

Rissalee said...

What is Men are from Mars? I don't remember that one...and it sounds more like real life than a board game! :o)

I'm really glad you and the Hubbster are having fun with Sequence. It does my heart good to see you two go at it. It's a great game that me and my Hubby got addicted to after being introduced to it by his dad...seems like the families are passing the tradition along.

When I was on bedrest and not allowed to get up, Sequence was a dear friend to both me and Hubby, and we played nearly every day I think...for MONTHS.

Anonymous said...

Good post. E and I still have sequence out on the table as we have been playing regularly together. We invited some friends over last weekend and had a game night. A few rounds of sequence and then a Wii tournament. It was a blast.

I also like Balderdash, and Cranium. How did you forget that one.

Jane said...

Over Christmas my mom and I played Phase 10 and Scrabble. She was not happy when I beat her at both! She was happy when I forgot to pack my Phase 10 game and left it at her house.

Over Christmas I announced that our family needs to work on playing more board games when we are together. So, this year I bough my parents Mad Gab. Next year I will get them something different so that when we are all together we'll have some options...other than the 1980's edition of Trivial Pursuit!

Meems said...

marmee, we play that car game too but we call it the ABC game. We have a lot of the same games going... like the rest of America I suppose. We haven't gotten into triopoly or blurt yet though. Sounds like your family has it figured out.

Gigi, How could I forget about Scrabble? I know you don't fully believe this but I really DO like Scrabble. Let's make a date to play... on my back porch? How about it? I'd also like to know how to play Mexican Train - I only play the standard Dominoes game.

Rissa Lee, When you were on bedrest was my first introduction to Sequence. That was back when I couldn't seem to remember to pull my card after play. Finally I've got that down pat.

Nathan Talbot, I can't believe I forgot Cranium. We have had some great fun with that game. Glad you are carrying over from Thanksgiving week, too, with Sequence. It was really fun playing on teams that week.

mjm: I don't know about Phase 10 or Mad Gab but they have to be better than Trivial Pursuit from the 80's. Good for you getting the family together for games.

CoachK said...

This is a great post! Our family LOVES board games. We do all the ones you listed. Sequence has been a favorite for years. This year we introduced a new on that is really fun with a group. It's called Would you Rather? It gives you two choices of answers that you answer as as a group you have to agree on one.

My personal favorites are scrabble, sequence and catch phrase.

Meems said...

Coach K, I didn't know you liked Sequence... how fun! MLM has 'Would You Rather' and we've played that one, too. She just informed me she has 'Catch Phrase' also but we haven't tried that one.

Sometimes our game nights are like Scrap Booking nights. We eat, we talk, we clean up and then perhaps never get around to scrapping or in this case playing the games we gathered to play. I find that the best times are when we're all together on a family vacation and staying in the same place then we don't mind staying up into the wee-hours together... no one has to drive home. Of course, these vacations are not frequent enough so maybe we'll get better at planning the occasional "game night" at someone's house and sticking to the plan.

elaine @ peace for the journey said...

Meems:
Hi...visiting here today from Melinda's blog (traveling the road home). I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your bold response to her post about yesterday's festivities in Washington. I, too, am having a difficult time in coming to terms with the entire transition. My tears are for different reasons than the ones displayed on tv yesterday. I find myself wanting to crawl into the safety of my home and hide for the next 4 years!

I know that is the wrong response, thus, my need to flesh it out a bit more.

Now, as for "games" with the family, we have a two generation family. Thus, we might do "Apples to Apples" with the olders and "Candy Land" with the youngers! Honestly, I love playing games with the kids. There is real and raw interaction that comes with time spent on the floor of my living room!

Enough said. Keep pressing on and into Jesus, carrying his torch wherever your heart and your words land!

peace~elaine

Meems said...

elaine, Thanks so much for coming over to WW. We have not been as kind over here on WW as Melinda's words... we tend to say it like we think over here. :-)

I'm with you on the first reaction to hide and wait... but God is counting on us to stand up and fight ... even when it doesn't look like we are winning.

As for games... hubby and I just finished a round of Sequence... we are officially in a rut. But I don't mind.

I LOVE playing with the kids... so many great times. We do Apples to Apples and Candy Land as well. Of course, the little ones always want to be the winners of Candy Land so we let them.

Thanks again for stopping by.
Meems