Spoons - After Christmas Fun

So, it’s 2 days after Christmas. The anti-climax day for me. The rush of getting ready for Christmas is over. The presents are open, the turkey has been served and the clean-up done. Yesterday - Boxing Day here in Canada - meant heading to the city at 8 am to battle...uh...share the shopping frenzy with more people than I’ve ever seen shopping at one time. The city roads were icy and I almost got rear-ended 3 times. Two of those times by the same truck driven by a man who didn’t seem to understand what a stop sign meant. I wouldn’t have worried too much but when he had to drive into the oncoming lane beside me in order not to plow into us, I got a bit worried about the kids safety. Anyway, we arrived home at 7 pm safe, tired and happy with our purchases.

Hubby was late getting home from work so by the time he drove up, we had the table cleared of everything but 5 metal spoons and part of a deck of cards. Yes, we were going to play SPOONS, that fun, ballistic game where it’s every man...er...child...er...person for themselves. A quick glance around the table ensured everyone’s nails were cut. It’s bad enough to smash knuckles during the course of the game while you’re grabbing a spoon, but no one likes being scraped or stabled by a fingernail.

Everybody from Dad and I (the Mom) all the way down to the 10 yo – our youngest was in on the action. It’s a simple fast paced card game and all you have to do is match 4 cards in your hand and then grab a spoon. When one person grabs a spoon, the rest are up for grabs. Of course, there’s only 5 spoons to the 6 of us playing. Think of it as Musical Chairs without leaving your seat. If you don’t get a spoon, you win a letter. The first one to spell SPOONS is out. I was the 3rd one out. And no, I didn’t get any scrapes but teen J literally jumped on me to grab my spoon at one point but I wasn’t letting that baby go although I had dents in my fingers from gripping it so tightly by the time she gave up.

I believe there were a couple scuffles under the table from flying spoons but I wasn't in on those. After a 2 hr game, Dad was declared the winner. He said good-night and went to bed with a smile on his face. He was the only one who had to get up early for work today.

I awoke this morning with shoulder and leg muscles aching and feeling like I’d been dragged behind a horse for 17 straight hours. I’m sure it was from all the tension yesterday of driving the icy streets and jockeying in position with all the other harried shoppers but then, it could’ve been the Spoons game.

I decided today was a Play Day and I’m still in my jammies. After checking my email this morning, I read a bit. Then, I settled down for a few tracks of Wii Mario Kart but my hands cramped up after 2 races so I went back to reading. When the rest of the kids got tired of racing, teen J and I decided to try our hand at the Wii winter sports game we bought for only 8 bucks yesterday at WalMart. I like this game a lot better because I use my whole hand and not just my thumbs. This game is also great exercise because we stand there and simulate the movements. No, we didn’t win...in fact we sucked at skiing but it sure was fun. Now, my arms are tired. Sigh.

The boys are racing again and hubby just went back to work after eating his lunch but his last words to me was to rest up because he’ll be back in an hour or so and then the competition is on! Yippee!!!

Swish...swish...swish...

Have you ever tried the Wii or any other game system? Or do you like the old card or board game better?

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