Tis the Season to be jolly

[retro junkie]

I am looking down at a week right before I take off for the Christmas Holiday. I will be taking off from work at least two weeks which will take me into the new year. My Family and I are presently doing Christmas things. All our Holiday movies have been pulled and stacked. Last night it was Charlie Brown and Grinch cartoons. We have the Season's music coming from the TV by Youtube throughout the day. At times we will set together, listen, and relax around the tree, trying to remember things from Christmas past. At this point our shopping is done, just last minute mailings of a gift or two and cards. From this point I will be sneaking gift wrapping and stealth placing them under the tree. Much cooking preparations are still in the wings. Which means we will be eating Christmas things. I used to pull out my Sega Saturn and play the Nights Christmas demo game. I haven't done that in a long time.

Family is spread out over the US, and a lot have passed on, so there hasn't been really a gathering for the Holiday in a very long time.

I say looking down at a week because I am out on that limb ready to jump down on that bear and wrestle it to the ground.

Each Family has their own traditions in how they celebrate the Holiday. Is there something you can share that makes the Season special to you?

A Christmas memory that we have was when my Daughter was around 8 or was it ten. Can't remember. We went to bed on Christmas eve only to awaken on Christmas morning to snow that was already 6" deep. It was a big surprise. We didn't even look at the tree, or gifts. But we quickly bundled up and out we went. We built a snowman played in that snow until lunch. Gifts were enjoyed that afternoon after the meal.

[Grindspine]

With Christmas proper being on a Wednesday, I have to work the day before and the day after.  I now live about two hours from most of my family, so I will not be seeing them this Christmas, though in years past I often had to work the holiday due to my job in healthcare.

This is going to be a very different year for the holiday.  I am unsure of what to expect.

[BLUEVOODU]

We used to always get together on Christmas eve with all the immediate family.  Way back in the yesteryears... we used to do this with all cousins and extended family.  But that ended probably sometime when I was around 6-8 years old.  So we just got together with the immediate family after that.  We always had a lot of people getting together though.   Many of our family members have passed on as well... However, the immediate family is still pretty much the same gathering we do every year.  So this year will be more of the same, but that's a good thing.

Man.. I'd love to get 2 weeks off... right now, it's so crazy, I barely get to take a few days off.  I accepted a new position lately, so I'm hoping to be able to get away better in the new position.  That's the goal coming up... to be able to take time off.

[Grindspine]

There were many Thanksgiving and Christmas nights that Bluevoodu, SpartanEvolved, MasterMario, and I would get together for some LAN gaming.  Good times!  With three of us moving from the area, it is harder to do LAN and more about online play.

[BLUEVOODU]

we did that for almost 8 years I believe... I Think we started in 2008??  Maybe It was 6 years.  @mastermario moved... but still came back for the Thanksgiving Lan.

I bought everyone Farcry 2 from Best Buy on a Black Friday deal.  I think it was 2008 lol... but it was before StarCraft 2 came out.   We used to LAN StarCraft and some of the other game modes.  They were a lot of fun.

We also started doing gaming cookouts in the Summer before everyone moved away.  My kids are older now... so it was a bit harder to get everything going with all the family stuff going on and changing dynamics too. While that's not a bad thing, it was just different trying to get things organized between all the events taking place.