Keeping It In The Family

We have always played games as a family, but this new "offical" game night has come upon us in the last few weeks and it has been very pleasant (most of the time!)  Our current games are Buzzworks and Apples to Apples and my four kids, both young and grown, really enjoy them.  We have invited my sister in law over and that is tons of fun, but tonight we decided to expand and invite my sister in law and her husband, my brother in law and my mother in law.  That made eight of us at the table and a mix of different personalities that I wasn't sure would be conducive to good gaming.  I was pleasantly surprised, however, when everything came together quickly (after two hands of mass confusion) and we got in two solid hours of game playing and belly laughing, each of us laughing til we cried at some point in the night.  It was definitely good for the soul and I love having everyone close and happy and involved.  I think it's a wonderful experience for my sons and I know it's also a great vocabulary builder for my little six year old.  I am thinking that next time my sister in law comes over we should try a new game.  I'll have to do a little research and see what will work for us since it's often hard to include the little one in our games and he really wants to be right in there on his own.  I hope we can continue this new tradition we have started.  Family time is so important and if you can get in a good "roll on the floor" laugh to go with it, you have really scored!!