Traditions for Ringing In the New Year!

The old superstition is that what you are doing at midnight of when the New Year arrives is what you will do throughout the year.

We are not big party goers, so most of the time we are together as a family playing board games and eating snacks. It is not a glamorous activity, but it is a time of bonding and validating our family values.

On New Year's Day, I watch a lot of college football. But it has been a tradition in our home that we have Black Eyed Peas as a part of a meal on the First. Again the old superstition is that the more black eyed peas you eat, the more prosperous you will be in the New Year. I am not superstitious, but I do like black eyed peas, so I eat a generous portion!

How do you ring in the New Year?

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Christmas Surprise!

We lived on Cherry Street and Lake Jackson, so my oldest daughter must have been three or four, but I cannot remember for sure which. The little house we lived in had a garage that apparently had been added on after the house was built, because there was a window by the dining room table that looked out into the garage. We kept curtains over the window, so that the garage would not be a constant view.

Anyway, that Christmas our oldest daughter was getting a swing set from Santa Claus. My brother Michael and I decided to put it together in the afternoon, so that all we would have to do later is move it into the back yard. We were making quick work of the assembly, in fact we were almost through, when we looked up and saw my daughter looking excitedly out the window at her new swings.

We told her that Santa had left it there in the afternoon so that we could have it put together for her on Christmas morning. She accepted that, and we lived happily ever after.

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Teaching Pinhole (& Others) To Play Chicken Foot!

When we play chicken foot we use dominos in our double fifteen set. Those dominos not only have patterns for the various numbers denominations but are color coded as well. Having double fifteen, double twelve or double nine dominos allows more people to play at one time. But it is not necessary to have special dominos to play.

Let's use the standard double six set as our base for the description of the game, and you can modify it to whatever set you have. We will assume four players. Each player selects seven dominos. The object of the game is to get rid of the dominos in your hand. The game starts with the one who has drawn the double six laying it face up in the middle. Play moves to the player on the left. If s/he has a six in his hand he places it next to the double, on either side, with the six adjacent to the double. Play continues in the same direction, with each player required to play a six until there is a three pronged chicken foot on each side of the double. If a player runs out of sixes, s/he passes his/her turn.

When both side of the double have been turned into a chicken foot, the next player is free to play any domino in their hand that matches one of the six that are attached to the double six. The side of the domino that matches the denomination of the one on the board are juxtaposed. If a double is played, it must be played upon until it is covered by a three pronged chicken foot. Then the next player is free to play on any open end that matches one of the dominos in his.her hand. If s/he cannot play, s/he passes.

When one player runs out of dominos, or if the board is locked so that no one has a domino that can be played. Each player then counts the number of total spots on their remaining dominos. That amount is their score for the hand. The only domino that does not count its total spots is the double blank. It counts fifty points against the player that gets caught with it remaining in their hand at the end of the set.

The second set begins with the double five, the next with the double four, and so on till each double has started a round. So if you play with a double six set, a game is seven rounds. Winner is the player with the FEWEST points at the end of the game!

i hope this is clear to the readers, if not ask me to explain some item to you. It is a great game for families to play over the holidays. Even the little children can play. And those double nine dominos are less than ten dollars, but they allow far more folks to play at once, so I think the investment is well worth it!

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Chicken Foot in English & Russian

We had dinner guests this evening. Barry, who was a missionary in Belarus for several years, married a Belarussian woman. They moved to the States a few years ago. They have a daughter who is just past a year old. Barry's wife, Lucy is excited that her mom has recently been granted a visa and is here visiting for the first time.

She only speaks Russian, and our family only speaks Texan. But we had a lot of fun. After eating together, we got out the double nine dominos and played Chicken Foot. It is an easy game to grasp and it is a riot to hear the frustrations and the glee of the game expressed in both languages. At the end of the evening, I gave Lucy's mom, Leeza, a box of the dominos as a Christmas gift so she can take the game home to Belarus. She was very pleased!

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Telling the Grandkids About My Boyhood Hunting!

My grandsons love to have stories told to them while we are driving. This week I told them about the days when I was a boy and went to visit my dad's family in northeast Arkansas. They were farmers and lived very near several patches of woods where we were able to go hunting.

I told the boys stories of hunting squirrels, rabbits and birds. My Uncle Winkie and Aunt Joyce had dogs that were hunting dogs and we loved working the woods with them. I told the boys about skinning the animals we killed and eating them. I told them about the way Aunt Joyce would cook anything we brought home. It was a magical time in my life and I guess the stories went over well, because the boys now want to go to Arkansas to see Aunt Joyce and bring her a squirrel to fry!

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No Time To Quit

Athletes often hear from coaches, "When the going gets tough, the tough get going." That is so true. It might be easier to just sit back and let the problems overwhelm us, but it is not very satisfying.

The Lord expects His followers to be disciplined, to persevere, that is why He gave us a spirit of power. So don't be timid in times of trial, be resolute. Face the issue with prayerful determination. You will be able to overcome, because the Lord will help you.

Remember, a trying time is no time to quit trying!

2 Timothy 1:7 "For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline."

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