Just a few more thoughts today on gift exchanges and other traditions over Christmas holiday.
The allure of a gift exchange is multi-level. Not only is there the appeal of teasing the receiver, but there's the novelty of getting something quite unexpected, of tapping into people's ingenuity, and if you don't like the gift, at least you have something for next year's gift exchange.
What sort of other things do you do around this time of year? There are some really questionable ones that people do over the holidays. I am speaking specifically of mistletoe and drinking.
In terms of mistletoe, I don't mind kisses, but I prefer a. the chocolate type; and if not, b. the private non-chocolate type. Public smooching with anyone other than one's wife (in my case) is degrading to all involved
And excessive drinking is nothing less than a tragedy, when you think of the wasted money, the resulting behaviour, and God forbid, the permanent damage caused by a drunk driver.
By now you may have gathered that there are neither mistletoe nor drink at my place over the holidays.
While we're looking at things we do at Christmas, what other traditions do you have? Or what games do you play during this season? For ourselves, we don't have a lot of traditions, though board games are a top priority.
Games can be therapeutic at every level. It's good for the family to sit around a table, laughing, ribbing, chilling, and drinking...eggnog. It's kind of like the old-fashioned days when families talked to each other.
And winning isn't everything, but playing one's best is. Although I must be honest with you, do like to win.
I even see playing games as an education tool. There are a lot of word and number games out there that are very helpful. It's just a different way to appreciate Language Arts and Math, where you can use "education" and "fun" in the same sentence. There are so many ways to approach learning the basics, and games are just one of them.
Christmas is a slower time of year, thus allowing greater time to do things like this together. It seems so old-fashioned, I suppose, in this day and age where too many family members hide behind a screen for the evening, rather than play face-to-face with family and friends alike.
Being a wannabe wordsmith, I am naturally drawn to games like Scrabble, Boggle, and Taboo. And on the numbers side of games of things, I like Rummikub (the last syllable is pronounced "cyube," not "cub" for some reason).
In fact, like many math-based games, it's really hard to cheat at Rummikub (see previous column on gift deception). As you most likely know, you start with so many tiles, each with a number and a colour assigned to it. It's pretty upfront with what you're doing. The goal is to get rid of all of your tiles as quickly (and honestly) as possible.
Rummikub is that sweet balance of luck and happenstance, on the one hand, and intelligence and strategy, on the other. You are dealt so many tiles to start with—that's the "luck" part. After that, you need to take charge and make something of what you've been given.
Can you see where I'm going with this? No? Let me help you:
1. There's a metaphor of life found in Rummikub. We're all born with certain inherent and different qualities. We're "dealt" with a set of tiles with which we must do something positive with.
2. What we do with what we have is up to us. There is no place for entitlement (neither demanding it nor flaunting it). There is no place for floating or free-loading through life. We all have that same God-given opportunity to make something of our respective lives.
At least, those are the lessons I get from playing Rummikiub. I'll be honest with you, though: I don't actually think such heavy philosophical thoughts when I am trying to win.
And unlike a gift exchange, it's really hard to cheat. And that may not be a bad thing, whether it's a gift exchange or life itself.
Merry Christmas...and may the best man win.
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