7 December 2014

The Christmas club- Board games

As soon as I heard Sian was resurrecting the Christmas Club, my mind started mulling over the stories. There are so many to tell. Stories about our traditions, about the funny moments and stories about what we eat.

One of the first things that sprung to mind was "At Christmas we"...play board games.

If you know me at all, you will know that we are into board games. My middle brother takes his board gaming seriously. Most of his christmas list comprises board games and at the last count the cupboard was overflowing with around 92 of them! 
We play games throughout the year so to play games at Christmas goes without saying. 

Christmas afternoon have been characterised by games for as long as I can remember...


There was the time when my Granny (my mum's mum) paired up with my Grandad (My dad's dad) to play a hard fought game of Totopoly. Totopoly is the cousin of Monopoly and involves buying, training and racing horses. It often involves sacrificing a horse or two to let the rest of your stables have a chance. This was when my Granny gave forth one of her most famous lines. She turned to my Grandad and said, in sonourous tones into the silence,
 "Dennis....Kill him." Dramatic and amusing in equal measure!

Or there was the time when we played Charades and My Grandad came up with what he thought was a real corker of a film. It was only after 20 minutes fruitlessly guessing that he informed us his charade was "The ship that died of shame". A film that came out in the 1950's. Before most of the party were born.
Still, it has become a great charade in subsequent years. We weren't likely to forget it in a hurry!


There was the time we played Pictionary and one member of the party got very confused by what the letters on the board meant. Every second go she would ask"what does AP stand for?" to which everyone would shout "all play!" This was followed by her having to draw 'poverty' for us to guess on her next turn. Pictionary did not go well that year....

Or there was the time towards the end of the evening when we were playing 'stick up and shout'. Each player has around 6 letters of the alphabet in their hands and the question master has to present a category. For instance the category could be "countries in Africa" and if you had an "E" in your hand you could shout "Egypt."
On this occasion the question master asked for "garden implements" and my Grandad (who is a gardner) looked triumphant and shouted "Dagger" whilst waving a "D" in the air.
We were concerned.


And there is the time, every year when my Nana, swears outright that she has never played 'this game' before, despite the fact we have played it for the last ten years.
I think we'd all be quite disappointed if she remembered it now!

Christmas games always bring out the best stories! Thank you for allowing me to reminisce Sian!
Sian is running this Christmas meme for the next few weeks. Do stop by and read some other christmassy tales.

Do you enjoy playing games at Christmas?

21 comments:

Jane said...

we love our board games too and spend a lot of time over Christmas playing them.

scrappyjacky said...

We often play board games as well.

Ruth said...

What a lovely picture you've drawn of your family's Christmas!

Sian said...

Oh, this is brilliant! You do indeed paint a great picture of your family having, as we would say round here, great craic with some of those 92 board games. You have reminded me of the time my brother asked for the game "Sorry" and then refused to let us play. He can't really explain why now, he wasn't very old, we think it just wasn't what he had been expecting.

A lovely post!

Jo said...

Such a lovely post. We're board game players too and I think Christmas wouldn't be the same without them x

Unknown said...

We used to play Totopoloy too.

ally said...

That sounds like so much fun

debs14 said...

I can imagine the fun and laughter- sounds like you have an amazing selection of games!

Missus Wookie said...

What a great set of pictures - we like playing games too. Computer and board games and they are usually a full family affair with lots of jokes and laughter.

Lea Lacoste said...

such lovely stories! I miss board games now, it's been at least 10 years since I played any I think!

Miriam said...

What a lovely post Abi, such wonderful memories and pictures too. We are not great at board games, I wish we were, as children we loved playing them at Christmas.

Fiona@Staring at the Sea said...

What a great post Abi, so well written. Games were always a big part of my childhood Christmas too. Frustration being the one board game I remember playing. It was mainly card games with a bit of Shove Ha'penny thrown in.

Karen said...

Wonderful story telling, Abi! We used to play games after dinner, but now our gift exchange routine last so long (and is so much fun) that we never get to the board games.

Anonymous said...

Oh, what a really great post.....amazing story telling....laughed my head off at the 'Kill me' and 'Dagger' moments....(we all have Christmas family memories like those, don't we?!!).....[A fellow Christmas Club-er]

Lou said...

Ahh a super post...great memories. We all love a board game too and Christmas just wouldn't be the same without a new one. Last year for us was Pictionary man x

Beverly said...

92, oh my goodness!!! We love playing games, in fact, every month or so I will announce we are having dinner and game night. Christmas definitely gives us more together time to play :)

Alison said...

I have lots of memories of game playing when we were growing up too...though our's tended to be of the 'silly games' variety! Xx

Susanne said...

Yes, we play game. On my side of the family we stick to a favorite - Sequence. On my hubby's side, my sis-in-law and niece make sure there is a new game every year.

Anonymous said...

I love board games and we have a lot but with only two of us they aren't a lot of fun like yours are. I so enjoyed reading your post today Abi.

Rachel Brett said...

Sounds lovely, we like to play board games too. I can't wait to sit around the table and start laughing! :)

alexa said...

This sounds such fun! and it looks as if everyone joins in. (2? Golly!