I am way more competitive than I should be and game time never ends well for me. I have thrown a pack of cards. I have hidden needed pieces... I love to win. However, funnily enough, a group of my friends and I played book lovers trivia one night after severe drinking had commenced, and while normally I would have lost, I dominiated. Apparently drinking leads to intelligence for me. who knew?
www.mayorofthebux.com
I will never forget playing "Scene it" with a bunch of friends. I am apparently a trivia savant, something entirely useless in real life. As the night wore on, people got more annoyed and I got more smug. It ended with me getting a pitcher of rum punch dumped over my arrogant head. I had it coming, forsure, but I smelled like Malibu for a least a week. :)
www.itcouldabeenworse.blogspot.com
DH and I learned our first week of marriage that game night was a bad idea if we wanted to REMAIN married. I'm too competitive and he's too experienced at games that I've never even heard of but he spent hours playing as a kid (strategy games). I fully believed that he should give me a break while playing Risk because I was his new, sweet little wife (who is not a strategic thinker). He believed he should wipe the board with my face (metaphorically speaking). It lasted about 2 hours and ended in tears. Now we play cooperatively! It's the only way he can sleep without worries of an icepick to the temple. ;)
I forgot to leave my website: www.giftoffat.com. And there is a snowstorm of monopoly money in my living room right now. I am hating Milton Bradley.
Sooooooooooo funny and very reflective of our family. And if there's a game of Skipbo going on where you can CHOOSE to skip your spouse every time...well, someone is destined to sleep on the couch. (*ahem* him.) www.surroundedbypenises.blogspot.com
This is too funny. My family LOVED Scattergories when I was younger. It's too bad my kids are too young to play it. My 7-year-old got "Life" for Christmas (UGH) and wants to play it every.bloody.day. At least we're moving on from Chutes n'Ladders though.
http://plzdontcallmeangie.blogspot.com/
My favorite Family Game Night was a game of Catchphrase played one Christmas with all our siblings and parents. It was my husband's turn and he only gave one clue, repeated over and over, louder and louder: "You throw this at weddings!" Guesses included rice, birdseed, bubbles, and then the buzzer went off and he stood up and shouted, "It's CONFETTI, you morons!" There was a quiet pause, and then we all fell on the floor laughing hysterically. We can no longer play any game as a family without at least one person shouting that phrase.
Don't even get my husband started on the difference between "Pen" and "pin". I found out in a game of Taboo 15 years ago that they are NOT homophones! Anytime we play games now we talk about that dreadful night. http://weightimlosingit.blogspot.com/
My biggest problem with board games is the tiny little pieces that hurt so violently when stepped on with bare feet. Obviously, Monopoly houses and hotels are some of the worst offenders, but those smiling gingerbread men from Candy Land hurt like a bugger, and the bones from Operation find their way into shoes at the most inopportune times.
This sounds so much like my house! I am a horrible game player but I LOVE to win. It was pointed out to me how gloriously happy I sounded when calling out "Nothing" as other people's scores... What can I say? I'm happy when they stink!
my m-i-l just bought one for my kids. thankfully, he lives at their house, since we are usually there the week of christmas. on the second day, he forgot to move. that isn't a good record, really. the last day, he threw dirty laundry everywhere. why does he get to be naughty when the kids have to be good? someone should tell santa on him!
Just catching up on some of the posts that I missed. This one made my day. OMG, I laughed so hard!
Okay I must be in the minority! We love our "Scout" and since I'm up long before anyone else in our house, it is not inconvenient to move him from place to place! My boys even sit in front of his current spot and ponder their brother's misdeeds! So funny!
Well now I feel better about my decision to hold 2nd baby as little as possible, sounds worse then it really is. My daughter demanded constant holding, didn't learn to crawl or roll over till really late! Sam is very independent and I'm loving it!!!
"A tragic sledding accident"!!!! Love it. I read about this little fad last year and thought it to be a little high maintenance! Merry Christmas Lindsay!!!
http://sprocketswife.blogspot.com/
I'd heard of this one but I don't know. It seems that children are not allowed to use their imaginations any more. We used to tell our kids that Rudolph brought our Christmas tree. Sometimes Rudolph would leave notes but never once did our kids actually see him. Let me tell you though, they believed. I think the elf should not actually be seen. If he leaves an occasional note then the kids will believe but you won't have to worry about moving him. And besides, how long will they believe that he really moves at night? You're kids are smart and they'll figure this out pretty quickly. jjnzdr@yahoo.com
We got one and I am so over it. Luckily my oldest is just under 3 so he doesn't really question it if "Christmas" doesn't move. It is so hard to remember to move the darn thing! But we will break it out next year, just maybe a little later in the season.
A funny thing that happened to my friend is her husband put it in the bathroom of their 6 and 8 year old girls. The 8 year old refused to get undressed for the bath and the 6 year old asked her "why Santa sent a dirty old elf?". So I would definitely recommend skipping the bathroom!
Sarah
www.thesharpslife.blogspot.com
I could only wish for a tragic sleigh accident for the elf. Last year it was all my daughter could talk about--every day she came home from school talking about how their classroom's elf messed up the classroom, tied up the teachers, and threw away homework papers. I thought she'd like an elf of her own and conspired with my parents to have one waiting in their home when we arrived for Christmas.
That backfired, to say the least--it COMPLETELY freaked her out, to the point that she had nightmares and couldn't even be in the same room with it. It was awful! Luckily this year, even though the same elf is back at the school (and even though he kidnapped a high-schooler last week), she's a little more relaxed about "Steve," our personal elf, and hasn't had any nightmares so far. I still don't like his beady little eyes, though.
Oh yeah, that's another thing about the elf that DRIVES ME CRAZY. WHY couldn't they give him velcro arms? The sewn together arms are really limiting in terms of where I can put him and they also look REALLY weird. The kid from my daughter's class whose elf only moves around the Christmas tree- His parents were REALLY SMART.
Re: “Nearly every year during the holidays, someone in our house makes the mistake of buying a Family Game”
I love game nights when I was growing up-now, however, I'm limited to Hi Ho Cherrio, Chutes and Ladders and CandyLand. Can't wait for more stimulating stuff. Hopefully by then, my daughter will learn how to lose without throwing a fit.