Games we play

We had so much fun playing games with the family at Christmas.

We found this one one-line.  We filled these cups with little gifts, wrapped them in tissue and then people took turns throwing a bow on top.  

When a bow landed on a cup, they got to punch in the tissue and pull out the gift.

Fish Bowl:  

Everybody writes a noun on a slip of paper.  Some words written were chicken wing, candles, Papa, pigs, Trump.  These are folded and put into a bowl.  There are 2 teams.  Team 1 begins and can describe the word on the slip of paper however they want (except they can't use that word).  As soon as their team guesses it, he picks another word and describes that word.  They have 30 seconds.  After 30 seconds, they count how many words they solved.

Team 2 does the same for 30 seconds.  Once all the words are solved, there is a 2nd round.  In the 2nd round, the same words are used, however, this time you can only use 1 word to describe the word you pick from the bowl.  Since the words have been heard before, it is possible to guess but sometimes the clue is not very good and in the 30 seconds, the team may only have 1 slip of paper in that time.  Other times, the team may guess 6.  Once all the slips are used, again, count how many words were guessed.

In round 3, you again go through the same words, but this time you pantomime the words.  Same format.  It really was fun!

Of course we had to play "Murder in the Dark".  We played it EVERY night!

You turn off all the lights in the house except a few night lights may be on.  In our home, they all start in the kitchen and come in one at a time past the person in the chair in the living room who decides who the murderer is.  As they walk past, they would shake their head yes or no as to if they are the murderer.  They go downstairs after being told and once everyone has filed through, the game starts.

Everyone has to keep walking, upstairs, downstairs, bedrooms, etc, all around the house.  When the murderer feels no one will see him, he "kills" a person making a "slicing the neck" motion.  Kind of gruesome, yea? 

They fall down dead.  The murderer might actually stuff them all in a closet or shower nearby too.  As soon as someone stumbles upon a dead person(s) (the murderer can kill several at one time as in the pictures below), they shout "Murder in the Dark!!"  Lights are turned on and the guessing starts to try to figure out who the murderer is.  The dead can't participate in that part, of course, cuz they're dead.

If the correct person is not selected, lights are off and the game continues.  Sometimes the "it" can get everyone, other times just a few people before they are charged with the crime.

"A Quiet Place" is a blind Nerf gun game.  Everyone quietly walks around and the blindfolded "it" listens intently and tries to shoot them. If you get shot, you're out.

Sometimes they would throw things to try to get the "it" to shoot elsewhere.

You're Getting Old card game.  (Josh is using little hands, which has nothing to do with the game.)

Qubic game.  This is a game from my home before I married.

(again with those silly little hands)

Jill had purchased these silly hands on-line

Hide 'n' Seek in the neighborhood

I hid behind the bridge and under some brush.  I heard Jill's footsteps pass over the bridge, but she didn't see me!  We were on a text chain and as people were found, a text went out.  "Eli has been captured."  One by one they were caught.  I saw them go pass on the other side of the creek.  I won!  I was the last one to be found!

Eye tag: Everyone gets in a circle, looks down as they close their eyes.

One, two, three.  

Everyone looks up and stares at someone.  If you happen to be staring at the person staring at you, as Papa and Jill are below, you're both out. Last one left is the winner.

Volleyball in the dark

This isn't a game, but it was something that happened to us.  When we went to get the mail one day, we got this Christmas card.

We don't know a Joe and Tina Smith.  We tried to snoop on Facebook to see if someone popped up that we might remember.  Nope.  

We were so confused.  We even looked up the return address on Google Earth.  It just didn't ring a bell.  We racked our brains for some time, to no avail. Then as we looked at the envelope again, we realized it was a trick.  Our granddaughters had pulled a fast one on us!!  All made up! Ha Ha!  Can you tell what gave it away?

I have another game to share.  They all loved it!  Next post.

Giftings

We enjoyed our thrift store gift game.  We were waiting to hear whether Mindy's family was going to come or not for sure to do our Christmas gift giving.  Mindy told us that they had begun packing the car, but then Kaia began to spike a fever.  Mindy called to tell us they would not be coming after all.  We were bummed.

"Well, let's open our stockings tonight" I suggested.  Claire wanted to be Mini Santa!  In our home, Santa passes out the stockings.  

Our fireplace mantel is not big enough to put out all our stockings, so we hang them on our stair case bannisters.  This year we added Nehemiah to the mix so we had 16 stocking on 4 different railings!  

Nehemiah and Hannah had matchy-matchy stockings!

Claire, er, Mini Santa, passed out the stockings.

 

All the guys got bacon-flavored lip balm 

I don't think Hannah is too excited about that.

Josh showed Staci what was in her stocking.

It was sad she was too sick to come in person.

"Hi Sister Staci!  We miss you!"

We'll go deliver the stockings and presents to our kids in Colorado soon!

* * *

The next morning, Josh and I fixed breakfast.

Josh and I said we needed to run to the grocery store for a few items so we slipped out.  We did run to the grocery store, but the main reason we had to go at this time was that I needed Josh's help to pick up a gift for Papa!  

When we got back, we called everyone up for the gift exchange.

But first, I read of "A Very Noisy Christmas".  I bought it to read to the little ones.  They weren't here to listen, but I read it anyway.

Then Papa had a quiz about Biblical characters for us.  Our family is pretty good at knowing their facts.  Here is the Bible Quiz below.  You can look up the reference if you don't know the answer, but the answers will be at the bottom of this blog too.  

1. Guy murders his brother in a fit of jealous rage: (Gen. 4) 

2. Spiritual leader discovered drunk and naked in his home. (Gen. 9) 

3. A guy lies about his wife, which places her in danger of sexual assault. (Gen. 12) 

4. Miltants kidnap a whole family during a raid. (Gen. 14) 

5. Husband fathers a child with the maid (and it was encourage by the wife).

(Gen. 16) 

6. Gang of men attempt to rape a man’s guests. (Gen. 19) 

7. Man deceives his blind father and steals from his twin absent brother. (Gen. 27) 

8. Man in a polygamous household faces incredible strife in the family.

(Gen. 29-30) 

9. Mass slaughter perpetrated by a bunch of brothers to avenge their sister’s rape.

(Gen. 34) 

10. Eldest son sleeps with his father’s wife. (Gen. 35) 

11. Brothers sell their youngest brother into slavery. (Gen. 37) 

Wow, humans are a mess!  But "God SO LOVED the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life!"  John 3:16.  How amazing is that!

Titus 3:5 “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.”

I Peter 1: 3-4 “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection

of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish,

spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you."

* * * 

When it was time to open the presents, we went youngest to oldest.  Claire was youngest, so she picked a gift from under the tree and gave it to that person.  Eli was next and so on and so forth.  I'm the oldest (3 months older than Al), so after my turn, it was back to Claire.

Naomi showed up again.  Eli had given her away.  But he got her back.

Expressive thanks!

Hannah is holding a recipe box in that photo above.  I included recipes from her great-grandmothers, my missionary friends, Japanese recipes, etc.

Josh was filming the morning for Staci to watch.  What they grown up kids did this year was give eachother some of their favorite things.

Anytime someone got clothes as a gift, everyone would clap and chant 

         "Fashion show, fashion show, fashion show after lunch!"

Every year, Allen gets a box of chocolate covered cherries from Jill minus one cherry.  Many years ago, Jill had got him a box and couldn't stand the temptation and ate one.

Ever since then, he always gets a box with one missing.

Heated socks for his COLD toes.

Josh ran outside to get the gift we got this morning at the store.

A new ladder.  Seriously, his old one is not very stable or safe.  

The kids gifted me with so many gifts!!  SO MANY!  Thank you all!!!

A very special one I got was this:

The grandkids made a necklace for me out of beads that were the colour of their eyes!  From Kaia on up to Hannah.  The 7 grandchildren.  I LOVE it!!

The gift Allen gave me made me cry.  It was a Sakuraco gift subscription.

Filled with Japanese foods and gifts!  What a thoughtful gift that I can look forward to each month!!  He knows my heart!

After lunch, there was a fashion show:

Then the guys went to the Y to play basketball, while we girls went for a walk around the lake.

Cousin love

Here's when they first met each other.

Josh fixed a Christmas dinner of ham, brussel sprouts, potatoes and carrots, and zweibach (which is Russian Mennonite yeast bread roll formed from two pieces of dough that are pulled apart when eaten) and sparkling cider to drink.  We used the china that we had registered when we got married.  The glasswear was my mother's when she got married.

* * *

Of course God's BEST gift to us is His Son, Jesus.  But another gift (He gives many!) is His perfect peace.

This is my "word" for this year.  Peace.  I am memorizing this verse from 

John 14:27.  

We can choose to receive a gift from somebody or choose not to.  Like Eli, who kept giving his gift back.  I found Naomi's photo on my bookcase.  But then when he wasn't looking, we put it in his luggage to go back to his house.  

People have a choice whether they want the gifts God has for them.  Or they can choose not to.  What have you done? 

* * *

Answers to the quiz:

1.  Cain kills Able

2.  Noah

3.  Abram

4.  4 kings routed the 5 kings in the Valley of Siddim (around Sodom and Gomorrah) and carried off Lot and his family. Abram and his 315 trained men went and rescued them.

5.  Abram and Hagar

6.  Angels at Sodom & Gomorrah

7.  Jacob & Esau

8.  Jacob & Rachel & Leah & servants; it was not a peaceful family.

9.  Jacob’s sons murder the men of Shechem while they were still recovering from being circumcised to avenge Dinah, Jacob & Leah’s daughter.

10. Reuben sleeps with Bilhah

11.  Joseph (20 pieces of silver)