December 26, or the day after Christmas, has traditionally been "Game Day" for our family. I told the boys this, and they wanted to know if it was a national holiday, if other people also celebrated it. We figured that lots of other people probably have a similar day after Christmas, playing with their new games or toys, but that it was not an actual holiday. Our Game Day has historically involved playing board games and completing several puzzles (this was when we were with the whole large extended family, when there were 25 of us or more—we would typically have three puzzles going at once, and people would move about from table to table and put pieces in, or perhaps hunker down and commit to their puzzle of choice, or, if they are more like me, stop by a puzzle occasionally and try to find a piece for about half an hour before proudly declaring success and heading back to the board game area, because, clearly, that's more where your expertise lies). Since we've been celebrating with our smaller family (my parents and brother and our families), we've revised our activities to playing games of interest to our very young children. The last few years have been more about building Lego sets than playing games, actually, and that's how this Game Day started.
Martin and Otto worked on the "Town Plan" set.
Max decided to help.
The beginnings of the cinema, complete with a popcorn maker.
And now some work on the exterior.
Grandpa spent much of our visit down with his chickens, for whom he has been constructing a new coop. We all headed down there in mid-afternoon to help him with the big move: relocating the chickens from their tractors to their new home in the coop.
Otto was very cold but agreed to come down to gather some eggs. He stood ready with his basket, but there was some work to do first, and as he waited and waited, he got colder and colder and was not feeling very happy to be down there at all.
Grandma is in the future henhouse.
Max was excited to see the place.
Grandpa demonstrates how he will gather eggs in the future (we were standing in one side, where the chickens will soon be living).
Nesting boxes.
The outside of the coop.
Proud chicken owners.
We got all the pellets down and the coop is ready for its inhabitants.
But the preparations have taken so long that Max and Otto retreat to the house for the promise of hot chocolate and popcorn and a movie with Grandma.
Grandpa starts the transition. The plan is to move one chicken at a time.
Martin got to bring in the rooster.
Max came back down to help with the chicken gathering (Martin ran back up to get him when the chicken chasing began, and Max decided he wanted to come back down). Max was really excited to help with this part. We had planned to lure them one by one out of their tractors and then carry them and deposit them in the coop, but they got wise after a couple of their pals disappeared. They huddled together in their tractors and refused to come out until Grandpa crawled in and shooed them out. At this point, we were supposed to catch them all, but they snuck past us and were running amok in the yard. Max said, "Leave it to me. I'm a master chicken catcher." And he proceeded to sneak up on them and try to catch them. He has gotten quite good at this, but I suppose they were all too spooked, and Grandpa was in too much of a hurry to get them in the coop, and Max didn't catch any of them. Uncle David ended up being the most successful at this task, and he carried quite a few to the coop. Grandpa rounded up most of the rest, and he handed a few off to us to carry. Max had one in his arms for a while, but it started to flap its wings, and Max tried his best to hold onto it, but then he started saying, "Uh oh. Uh oh." And the chicken flapped so hard that it got loose. Another chase ensued, and finally we got them all inside the coop.
At this point Max decided he was ready for that hot chocolate and the movie, and we made a fast retreat back to the house.
Yeah, this is more like it.
We had another delicious meal, this time a rib roast.
So Game Day concluded with very few games played, but it was a full and wonderful day, nonetheless.
