Family Games: A Dying Holiday Tradition

As a huge fan of the Holidays, I've spent a lot of time pondering the reasons why they are so important to me. The most important reason for myself and many people is family. Family connection is the purpose of the holidays. Many people are off of work and home for the Holidays. But, are you really home for the holidays? How much time is spent communicating with others on cell phones, laptops, and other portable electronics? This simple tradition can make the difference between spending the holidays as a family, and simply being around family.

Each year, my wife and I, as well as extended family get a number of board games as gifts. Unlike most gifts, these are wrapped and tagged; being addressed to "FAMILY" instead of an individual. Not to mention, they are usually marked as being from Santa, although our family currently has no children young enough to actually believe in the jolly old man. These games stay wrapped until Christmas eve, at which point we always open at least one of them to play as a family on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning is when the remainder of the board games are opened. It's amazing how close a family can get by sitting around the table playing board games together. There are connections made which may have been lost for years, due to a number of reasons. I don't believe that there would be as many great memories made each holiday season without this tradition.

So, make this Christmas special. Go out and buy some games for the family to play this Holiday season. Some new games which came out recently include Tobago, Dominion, and others; not to mention the great variety of classic board games such as Monopoly and Risk. And don't forget to search Yahoo! for great board games for the family this year!