My Family Tradition Essay Example

Getting together with my moms’ family usually occurs over the holidays.  The family tradition is to play games and have fun.  Games are played by all no matter what age. The young kids play together, the teens play together, and the adults play together.  As you age, you get to be involved with more intense games.   As the family has grown, we always seem to have someone in each age group.  There is my Grandma, Great Uncles and Great Aunts, my parents, uncles and aunts, my cousins, and my cousin’s kids.  These games helped us all come together as a family and limit the time on our phones and to create many memories as a family.

The young kids play games such as Candy Land, Concentration, Go Fish, Connect4, Tag, Hide and Seek, and playdoh. My grandma always makes playdoh for the little kids because it’s safer and better to play with and doesn’t get hard after sitting for a long time unless it doesn’t get used for a year or so.  If it is warm enough outside, the younger kids normally end up outside because of how loud they are.  In the warmer weather the youngsters play Tag in the field or around the barn, in the colder weather the youngsters go sledding or build snowmen.  They also play hide and seek around the farm because there are many places to hide and sometimes the older kids join in.  When it is too cold outside, they play Hide and Seek in the house because some closets lead from one room to another and some closets are big enough to be another bedroom and there are lots of rooms to hide.  

As a teenager or young adult, you play games such as Monopoly, Spoons, Mexican Trains, Left Right Center, and UNO.  Each year it seems someone learns a new game and so the list keeps growing.  These games get intense because it’s a bunch of cousins fighting to grab a spoon or get all the money from Left Right and Center.  Everyone is fighting to be heard, so it gets quite wild at times.  The games normally lead to teasing and egging each other on.  There is a lot of laughing going on and sometimes tears.  The games do get intense at times.  

The adults sometimes join the teens in their games, except Uno and Monopoly. When the adults join the teens, the level of play changes.  It almost becomes teens against adults.  When we play Spoons as a whole family, not including the young kids, it gets very intense and Grandma is telling everyone to slow down so she can keep up, but everyone is fighting for spoons and jumping over tables and pushing people over and telling Grandma that she is just out at this point.  As a family, we also play Left Right Center which gets intense because everyone is trying to get win the pot of money and because everyone is against everyone.  Left Right Center isn’t as fast as Spoons but it’s just as competitive.  

The adults sometimes play Texas Hold’em and 1500 Rummy which can get kind of boring at times for the teens but gets intense for the adults.  Both games involve an unknown amount of money and therefore the younger kids and teens aren’t allowed to play.  It’s also involves gambling which some of the parent’s don’t want their teens involved with.

At certain ages, you are eager to join the older group and play those games, but you aren’t always ready.  So, once you get to join in the older group games, it’s always exciting.  Fast moving games like Spoons aren’t the game for everyone.  Grandma and mom are too slow and are always out first.   But mom is very good at Concentration and will play that with the younger kids.  Sometimes the teens play games with the younger kids just to keep them entertained.  Sometimes a younger kid and a teen will play together as a team. 

No matter what group you are playing games with, it’s never a boring or dull time.  You learn so much about your family during these games such as who is the competitive one, who is the quiet-sneaky one, and who is good or bad at everything.  You gain an understanding of your relative’s strong points and weak points and you learn how to work together to win.  When the younger kids and teens play as a team, they make the younger kids feel special.  This is a wonderful way to help them build their self-worth.  

The memories made each time we get together create a bond that will never be broken.  Even though we don’t see each other more than 5 times a year, these games help us to learn about each other and appreciate our time together.  We look forward to these get togethers and it is always disappointing when we must miss one of these get togethers.  The time goes so fast when we are together because of the games we are playing. The tradition of playing games during our times together is something I hope never ends.