Here’s a little about our holiday traditions, including decorating for Christmas, holiday travel, and some of our favorite board games to play with friends and relatives.
How We Celebrate Christmas
Ever since we’ve been married, we’ve pretty much stuck to the following Holiday routine:
- Drive first to see Jim’s family in Ohio. Have all the nieces and nephews and their respective parents over to open presents on Christmas Eve. Visit with friends and family members who stop by for some good food (or good gossip!) in the first few days after Christmas. Partake in plenty of game-playing and food-munching. His mom traditionally makes potato salad (just for us!) and a sweet & sour pork dish with pineapple in it.
- Jump in our car and drive to Indiana to spend a few days with Lynnette’s family. Play games until the wee hours of the morning, while snacking on Peru’s very own version of thin-crust Pizza. Dine for days on all the leftovers from Christmas Dinner. Her mom traditionally makes ham and turkey, plus way too many casseroles & side dishes, including macaroni salad (just for us!). And she always makes lots of funky sweet treat concoctions. (…”Funky” is good, mom!)
It’s A Fact: We never decorate our house for the holidays. Partly because we’re never there. But mostly because… we just don’t. We actually tried to get into the spirit in 2002 by decorating an artificial tree that an old friend had given us. Despite how cute the tree actually looked in the end, we just don’t seem to have the “decorate your house & celebrate” gene. Haven’t done it since.
Board Games… Bring It On!
Every time we visit our families, we fight till the end to take home the “win” by challenging them at our favorite games.
In Indiana, it’s “Outburst“, “Cranium” or “Taboo“with Lynnette’s mom and brother. In Ohio, it’s “Boggle“, “Scrabble” or “Yahtzee” with Jim’s mom and sister.
There are few things in life funnier than watching Jim and Lynnette’s brother, Mike, “strategize” over plays when it’s girls against the guys!
And there’s no stoppin’ Lynnette when she’s on a roll with word games against Elouise and Kathy! She’s very verbally witty… good with words and letters (even if they aren’t all in your standard dictionary).
You see, we’re both from game-playing families. Jim grew up playing Yahtzee and Uno, as well as various board games.
Lynnette’s family bought a different board game for the entire family to enjoy each Christmas. They’re a card-playing family too — everything from Bridge and Euchre to Canasta, Rummy, Hearts, and Oh Hell (her Dad’s favorite).
We still enjoy casual nights of playing board games and card games with friends and family whenever we can.
We moved from Florida to Tennessee in 2001. All signs point to the fact that we will probably retire here — by choice. We L O V E Nashville! Our favorite places to live are just south of the City — we’ve had houses in Brentwood, Franklin, and Spring Hill. And we have properties in Leipers Fork, Cookeville, and Lewisburg. This site is where I share my best tips for moving your family to Nashville and/or visiting Nashville for the first time — with the ultimate goal of helping you find fun things to do in Williamson County and Davidson County. When I’m not out & about enjoying the Nashville area, you’ll find me at the corner of Good News & Fun Times as publisher of The Fun Times Guide (32 fun & helpful websites). To date, I’ve written over 500 articles on this site! Many of them have upwards of 100K shares.
