Typically during the holidays, even when family visits, I end up working for most of it. Over the past decade I have worked every single Black Friday as well as either the day before or the day after Christmas (often times both). It can really put a damper on my holiday spirit, but this year I managed to get two days off in a row while my sister and her family were visiting and it was fantastic!
I am the proud uncle of four, three nieces and a nephew. Typically when the kids are in town we will enjoy playing with any and all random toys that have been lying around the house since I was a kid, but this year was different. Before the kids arrived this year I spoke with my sister about what to get them for Christmas. My sister had a Wii collecting dust, but it still worked and she said they may enjoy some games. I cannot even begin to tell you how excited I got knowing that I was going to buy video games for my nieces and nephew.
I knew exactly what games to get. Knowing I was shopping for four I got three extra Wii Remote Plus controllers, one with a Mario design, one with a Luigi design, and one with a Princess Peach design. Now that they have four controllers I knew I would need to get games that play four players and were easy for kids. Mario seemed to be the obvious choice to stick with so I got New Super Mario Bros, Mario Kart, and Super Smash Bros Brawl. Watching them open their gifts was great. My nephew in particular was the most excited.
Unfortunately I didn't think to tell my sister to bring the Wii with her, so they were unable to check their games out. The next morning, however, my nephew managed to find me going into my room. I typically keep it locked when they are here, but he wanted to see what I had in there so I went ahead and let him in. I was lucky enough to pick up the Classic NES this holiday and I had it hooked up so for the first time ever I got to play some video games with my nephew.
We tried a bunch of classic games. Mario 1, 2, and 3, Excitebike, and Punch Out to name a few. Mario was the clear favorite, but he couldn't quite get the hang of jumping over pits and enemies so I played quite a bit for him. Eventually we landed on Kirby. Game changer! Kirby is just about the perfect kid game. He has a health bar so no one hit deaths. He can fly over gaps. You don't even have to time Kirby's jumps to land on an enemy, you just push a button and eat them instead. My nephew made really great progress in this one as he progressed through the first world almost all on his own.
Later in the day I got to thinking about what I could do to get the kids playing the Wii while they were here. Luckily I was able to borrow a Wii from a friend. When I got back to the house we got everything hooked up and played some four player Mario Kart and Smash Bros. It was really great to be able to enjoy my greatest passion with my sisters kids. I'm not exactly good with kids, I'd even say I'm fairly terrible with them, but I've never felt more in my element with these kids than I did this past week.
No one in my immediate family really games. My sister and I used to play the SNES when we were kids and my dad has played a couple sports games with me here and there over the years, but around the time I got the PS1 I was really the only gamer in the house. Having the opportunity to pass on something that was so special to my childhood to the next generation was really one of the the greatest moments video games have ever given to me. I hope my nieces and nephew really enjoy their games and I cannot wait to see how much they grow as gamers the next time I get to play with them.