‘Twas the Night After Christmas

T‘was the night after Christmas, and all through the house, not a console was stirring, not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that new games soon would be there.

The gamers were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of controllers danced in their heads. But as morning arrived, they awoke with a fret, were there video game treasures they didn’t quite get?

Did Santa forget a new game or device? Or perhaps a cool gadget that would have been nice? So let’s gather ’round and share what we missed, any gaming delights that were not on our list?

A ‘Best Christmas Ever’

I truly hope that anyone reading this had a joyous and magical Christmas. Or if you don’t celebrate the holiday, that you had a wonderful December 25th!

We were extremely blessed to have a beautiful day surrounded by family, fun and laughter. With my wife’s parents having migrated south years ago, it had been quite some time since we were able to share Christmas with both my parents and hers. But that’s just what we did for the entire day. Kids had a blast, Moms and Dads throughout the house were all smiles and even our cat and my in-laws dog managed to get along in harmony. Truly a Christmas miracle!

Material World

I will be the first to admit that I am not above loving Christmas gifts. Even from a secular point of view, while I believe to my core that the holiday transcends gifts to mean so much more, they are an awful lot of fun. Fortunately, my opinion on gifts applies to both giving and receiving. Regarding the latter, I enjoy everything from the long lead up to Christmas morning, looking at what’s underneath the tree to see how apt my investigative skills were, to finally ripping through wrapping paper while sitting by the fire.

In this regard I could not have been happier, spoiled by each and every member of my family. I received books that I had been waiting to read or didn’t know existed, useful tools that will be put to extremely good use and art that spoke to me on every level. I even received a gift from my wife that made me tear up and gave us a moment that I will treasure forever. This also provided the gift of laughter for my kids, so it was a twofer!

Where are the Video Games?

The one single thing that surprised me was an almost complete lack of anything video game related. This was ironic given my recent creation of a blog with video games and gaming at its core.

While writing this, I began to think it might be fun to post later on about some of the video game related Christmas presents that I have received over the years. Therefore, I won’t go into detail here. But a quick recap includes video games, tabletop arcade cabinets, controllers and console peripherals. That is not to mention all of the video game related gift cards, stickers, books and various accoutrements.

Over the years I started to feel as though I was becoming a bit predictable in throwing out hints for video games and the like. This year I decided not to. Instead, I asked for 2 things: some rechargeable lights that I’m going to mount inside my gaming closet and Hogwarts Legacy. I know, I’m a bit behind the curve on that title. But given everything I’ve heard about the game and that it’s on sale now, so as not to be an imposition, I figured it would be a great time to play it. Anyway, I was sure that they’d fill in the gaps with video gaming goodness.

So, I was surprised to have not gotten anything video game related, save the video game-adjacent lights I had asked for. I didn’t even get Hogwarts Legacy.

Truly Grateful

I think I am partly relieved my family knows me so well they are able to find such thoughtful gifts I absolutely love that don’t have to be associated with video games, even when I myself can’t. It also feels good to be reminded that my interests remain diverse and varied. But there’s a small part of me that will always equate video gaming with being a kid at heart and therefore intrinsically tied to the holiday.

And now I have to buy myself Hogwarts Legacy.