Family gatherings at my parents’ house generally go something like this:

My husband:  Hey, let’s get a movie tonight.

Me:  Yeah, that would be great.  I’ll help you pick one.

Mom:  Sounds like a good idea.  Let’s get something funny.  With Meg Ryan.

Dad:  Or we could get that new thriller that was just released.  With Daniel Craig.

Brother:  Yeah, I might go out with my friends.

Tension builds

Me:  Or, we could play a game?

Reluctantly, Everyone:  Sure, we could do that.

The games of choice at my parents’ house are homemade Pictionary and homemade Charades, which are basically the same game except in one of them you get to draw.  These sound harmless, I know, but the competitive gene runs deep.  I didn’t just happen to be a kid who loved to win.  I mean, I got it from somewhere.  Therefore, if my 12-year old doesn’t act out “Mission Impossible” with dexterity and finesse, my dad is likely to, um, well, let’s just say he can get a bit peeved. 

And, as you can imagine, my mother does not appreciate the finer points of his competitive spirit.  “He’s a child!” she’s likely to chide.  To which, always, my dad will pretend that he was only trying to help, he wasn’t frustrated, angry, disgusted, or any such thing.  How could we even think that?!  (The nerve.)

My brother hangs out in the background, participating at a low enough level to also text his friends and keep up with the ball game on TV, which my mom didn’t want on in the first place.  The added intrusion of texting adds a lovely patina of thinly veiled anger to the evening.  Throw in an actual call to his cell and things get very interesting.

All this goes round and round, holiday after holiday, year after year, and in our own strange way we look forward to it, games and all.  We consume calories we shouldn’t, laugh for most of it, endure the tension-filled moments, and try to reconnect with people we truly love.  And it should be this way, right?  Because there’s always the possibility it will be different this time.  Like this year, maybe, just maybe, I’ll win at Charades.  And for that I will be very thankful.

This post was written for Parent Bloggers Network’s blog blast.  This week it’s sponsored by Electronic Arts, & they’re giving away fun, family-focused video games just in time to ease the tension at the upcoming holiday gatherings.