One Final "Christmas"

For us extroverts in the world, there's no better way to celebrate Christmas than with LOTS of people that you love! So even after all the get-togethers from the past week and a half, we still felt it necessary to plan one last "Christmas" with our neighbors (and great friends) the Wiens family, on the last possible day (December 30). We made beerocks for dinner and supplemented the rest of the meal with left-overs from the past week! YUM! Then, after a short time of gift-exchanging, we put the kids down to sleep and brought out the board games.

Choosing a game for the evening is always a challenge given the fact that Christa and I don't like games that last longer than an hour (Monopoly, Life, Risk), and playing a trivia game with Aaron, Randy, or Christa guarantees a loss on my part...ALWAYS! So games of random skill usually work the best for us (Apples to Apples, Cribbage, Cranium). This year we picked Boggle. Usually Randy is the winner; he grew up playing it with his Grandma and Grandpa Friesen. He always finds the words within words, always adds the s, and always manages to get the 6-letter words that no one else finds! Maybe it was the late hour, maybe it was the good food and drink impairing their vision (both boys have messed-up eyes to start with), but this year a girl was the winner! And write it down, it was Jamie! You may think this is a bit over the top, "Stop gloating, Jamie. No one likes a braggart." But I'm willing to take the heat. Yup, the person WITHOUT a doctorate degree, master's degree, or even teaching credential was the winner! I win so infrequently in the mix of Wiens/Mack families that I want this one recorded for future generations. Although, of course, this means that my chances of winning any time in the next ten years is next to nul. Oh well!