Family Game Night Tradition

    Hello all and welcome to my final blog post for a while! Today I am going to be reminiscing on one of my own family traditions that I remember from my childhood, and there aren't many that I can remember. This is one from after my parents' divorce and was solely practiced at my dad's house. That tradition was: Family Game Night.

    My dad has always been known to love a good game. Some of his favorites were on the Wii, including Wii Sports Resort, Wipeout, Mario Kart, and Super Mario Bros, but he was also a big fan of classic board games. The ones that we had on rotation were Clue, Trouble, Shoots & Ladders, and Candy Land. But none of them were used more in my dad's house than Monopoly.

    We walk in the door to my dad's house after getting home from school on Friday. Not only does that signify that it's now the weekend, but it also means it's time for my favorite activity of the week, family game night. My sister and I rush up the stairs to our overstuffed game closet full of every game you could imagine. My dad always preferred playing a game to watching the TV because it meant we could talk and spend meaningful time together as a family. As was our routine, I picked out a game that I wanted to play, and my sister picked out a game she wanted to play. Obviously we would never agree on the same one. My pick was Candy Land, and my sister's was Monopoly. We raced downstairs and nervously presented our picks to dad who would be the tie breaker. Of course, dad would never dream of being accused of favoritism, so even though I was only 9 years old, I picked up on the fact that each week he would alternate which daughter's game he would choose. Last week he chose mine, so of course this week we would be playing Monopoly.

    The game starts out the way it always does, fairly slow paced, spirits are high, everyone thinks they have an edge on everyone else. Dad is the banker because, though I'm ashamed to admit it, I have been known to purposely miscount my opponent's change while they aren't looking, and my sister's math skills aren't quite up to par. Thirty minutes go by and my sister has all the railroads and both utilities. If you know anything about Monopoly, you know that my dad and I are basically screwed. Nevertheless, we continue playing until slowly, I began mortgaging my properties one by one to be able to afford my dreaded lands on those railroads. We call it quits at around the 1 hour mark because it's very clear that my sister will be taking the victory this Friday. My 9 year old self is upset. I silently put my (little) remaining Monopoly money back in the box and stomp up the stairs to my room to sulk about my loss. To this day, I would consider myself a sore loser, but with less of the theatrics. 

     Although at the time that this story takes place, I would have abandoned our weekly tradition of family game night over one unlucky night of playing the dreaded game of Monopoly, I look back on those moments with kinder eyes. I think that having the expectation of sitting down with my dad and sister one a week for family game night gave me some much needed routine that my life lacked because of the uncertainty of the divorce my family was going through. I believe that having anything at all to look forward to is what keeps a person going, which is why recurring traditions are so important and necessary. Please comment what games your family would/do play on family game nights!