Board Game People

Once the kids had become adults or adultish, Christmas day seemed to fade somehow. Louise and I were still excited by the season, but after the presents had been opened, there was a whole day to fill. We don’t have our big Christmas dinner on Christmas day. It never did seem right that Louise would spend a large part of her day making a delicious meal that we couldn’t really do justice to. We tend to snack on finger foods, cookies and chocolate for most of the day.

 

You can only make so many phone calls to relatives and friends who are far away. They have their own traditions and Christmas is a day for family. I also tend to get “phone ear” after twenty minutes or so. I think what happens is that I am getting a lot of words funnelling into my ear and the tube leading to my brain must be pretty tiny and the words back up and start to get all mixed up. That’s my story and I am sticking to it. We own many board games, in pristine condition. They are in pristine condition because we really aren’t board game people. Some of us are bad losers and I am a terrible winner. That’s nothing you want to deal with Christmas day.

 

In recent years, we have gone to the movies on Christmas day. It was easy while they were cranking out the Harry Potter movies, and most years there are some pretty good movies released around this time of year. This year we are planning on going to see the second Hobbit movie. Maegan hadn’t seen the first one, so we watched it at home tonight. I know some people haven’t seen it and some wouldn’t even if they had an opportunity, but I have been a Tolkien fan for close to fifty years and that will never change. Peter Jackson has done a wonderful job, the movie is fast paced and for the most part it is true to the novel.

 

For the most part. I am a purist and I have trouble letting go of the liberties he has taken with the novel. He has left out portions that I feel were important to the plot and worse, he has added scenes to pander to the masses. It is his vision, his millions of dollars and his prerogative what he does with his life and movies. I guess what bothers me is that there are people out there who will become huge fans of Middle Earth, having never read the books. To them, the story of Bilbo and Smaug will be Peter Jackson’s version, and although well done, it isn’t the original.

 

There is nothing to be done about it, other than to complain to a bunch of strangers on the blog, who probably won’t care and even if they do, I will never know.

I am sure I will enjoy “The Desolation of Smaug” and it will be a wonderful Christmas spent with family. In fact, I hope that all who read this will have the same good fortune that my family and I are blessed with.

Best wishes to you and yours no matter how you spend your Christmas, even if you are board game people.