Family Adventures: Happy New Year

Photo via Whats4lunch

While out on errands on Saturday, we stopped for lunch at the Asian Bistro in Williston. It's a bit further from our home than Joyce's Noodle House in Essex but apparently My Wife prefers their lo mein to Joyce's. I had no idea. It was chicken fried noodles for me - not bad but, as usual, My Wife ordered better.

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We went to the Mocks' for an early evening New Year's gathering. We brought over a new game to share: Dixit. My Wife has had her eye on Dixit for a while now and bought it as a gift for our family. It's a sort of story telling/guessing/fool your opponents game. It's a lot of fun: easy to learn and perfectly suitable for a wide range of ages. The game is technically limited to six people and we had seven which was a little funky but two of the kids volunteered to play as a team so it worked out fine. It allows for a low-key atmosphere, too - not overly competitive and we could all be happy for the winner, Mrs. Mock in this case.

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Pictionary was a different story. Things got a lot more emotional with that one! I hadn't played in years but it was fun. My team struggled but we made a strong effort in the end. The toughest word I had to draw (unsuccessfully) was current.

We brought over Duck Soup to share. It's long been our tradition to watch Marx Brothers movies on New Year's. Evidently, they tended to be on TV when My Wife babysat as a teenager on New Year's (I'm still learning new things about her all the time). Apparently, it's a long-standing tradition for loads of people. TCM had a New Year's Eve Marx Brothers marathon this year. Here I thought it was just her clever idea!

Duck Soup is my favorite Marx Brothers film, though I also like Horse Feathers, the first one I ever watched. The adults watched more than the kids did last night. Those kids who did wander in and out were mostly confused by it - understandable if you're not paying close attention, I suppose.

Before I sign off, I'd like to take a quick moment to express my disappointment with Fantasy Tennis Tour. Due to their apparent compatibility issues with Firefox, I wasn't able to log in and make my picks for the opening tournaments of the year. It's not worth the weekly frustration so I'm bagging the idea for the year. Oh well. I dare say I'll find other things to write about!

But let's end on a positive note. Here's my favorite scene from Duck Soup:



Happy New Year!