The Dictionary Game - Any Takers?

My dad invented this game thirty years ago. Many a night I remember being kept awake by the grown ups laughter as they played this game together. I envied their fun and vowed someday when I was big I'd have lots of grown up friends and I'd play the dictionary game too! Not so.
I would LOVE to play the game. Tim loves it too now that he's officially caught the "nerd bug" from my side of the family. We are a family of Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, and this, dad's game. We want to use our minds and we play for blood!! It's a riot!!
Usually our only time to enjoy this type of "play" is when Kelly and Martin are in town. They are kindred spirits in this respect. I'd really like to indoctrinate-rather invite others to play the dictionary game. Tim always stops me saying "Kris, they're not gonna like that." to which I respond "how do you know - they might like it if they tried it" - Tim continues his pessimism "NO, they're not like us..." Translation: they're not dorky like us...
The game plays like this:
In order for the game to be any fun you've got to have a minimum of 6 players - the more the better!
Everyone is issued uniform notebook paper and pencil.
You must have a very large very extensive dictionary.
One person chooses a word from the dictionary that they do not know and suspect that everyone else does not know the meaning of.
They pronounce that word. Spell it. and give the part of speech.
Everybody writes this down on their paper.
The leader (one who chose the word) writes the definition from the dictionary down on their paper next to the word. They can choose ANY of the given definitions (as there are often more than one) and they may shorten it if it seems lengthy. They may NOT however alter the definition at all.
The others all write down either what they believe may be the definition of the word or make up a definition out of whole cloth as they say. This is where it gets funny (as far as this dork is concerned anyway)
Everyone turns in their definitions face down to the leader.
When all the papers have been turned in the leader "shuffles" the papers to disguise whose is whose.
The leader then very carefully and very seriously must read all the definitions including his or her own (the real one). (this part is hilarious! Trying to keep a straight face while doing this can often be very difficult. It can be especially hard at 2am when you've begun to get slap happy and are high on caffeine and snack foods)
Each person in turn then must choose what he or she believes is the correct (true) definition.
The real definition is revealed.
The ultimate goal of the leader is to choose a word that stumps everyone - no one picks his true definition.
If one or some have chosen the true definition then the leader gains no points!
If the leader stumps everyone then he gets as many points as there are players in the game.
If you choose the RIGHT definition you get a point.
If one or some of the players pick a fake definition then those points go to the author of the fake.
Points are written down under each player's name on a score sheet.
You play a set number of rounds - meaning how many times round the table giving each person a chance to be the leader. One round with a large number of players may take a while.
It's a long game but it's well worth it.
The player with the most points after 3 or 4 rounds (or however many are played) WINS

Tricks to playing well: When choosing a word look for words that don't seem to correspond well with their true definition. Or choose a bizarre word with a very bland or plain definition making others look over your definition because it is so bland.
When writing definitions use your knowledge of language (Latin) if possible. Make your definitions sound "dictionary-like". For goodness sakes make the definitions MATCH the part of speech (some members of my family I won't name names have a hard time with this one)
After playing a while and with the same people you start to see patterns in peoples' thinking. THIS IS THE FUN PART!!! People have an extremely difficult breaking out of their patterns of thinking. There are those who make everything into some king of ethnic pottery "a Peruvian clay pot used for spices" There are those who constantly describe birds "a small yellow Bird part of the finch family" There are those who always say "small..." and those who always say "large..." You need to LISTEN carefully and look for word clues left in the definitions people try to create. This way you can rule out the fakes and shoot for picking the real one.


Well, so that's the dictionary game. I love it. So does Tim. Sure wish we had some fellow dorky couples, a plentiful supply of snacks and wine, and Friday nights or Saturdays would be so much fun! Maybe you all can try this yourself with friends and let me know how it goes.

I Hate Winter!

I hate winter, well winter in Illinois anyway. It is COLD! and gray and ugly outside. The neighborhood is almost dead with its silence and lack of movement. When we see each other outside running to get the mail from our frozen shut boxes we often say "hey! you're home?? we thought you were out of town"
I hate the 5-10 lbs of extra weight I seem to hang onto. Maybe that's due to the kinds of foods we eat in order to warm us up on cold night. As I type this there are brownies baking in the oven. Gotta let the kiddos eat brownies and drink hot cocoa. Mom might have some too of course.
I hate the bigger bulkier clothes and the keeping track of boots and mittens and hats times 5. This "bulk" creates more laundry which is the one thing I hate more than winter. Oh how the laundry multiplies in the winter. I long for the days when wardrobes consist of a swimsuit and beach towel.
I'd so much rather be gardening, growing my veggies, planting flowers, chasing Collin down the sidewalk as he speeds off on his bike. I'd rather be standing in the shallow end of our city pool catching Monica as she leaps off the edge towards me for the hundredth time. I'd rather be sitting at my patio table talking with Tim or Dawn or mom...
I'm counting down the days until spring and ultimately summer - I only hope I don't drown in laundry weighed down by beef roasts and pies all eaten to comfort my winter blues!!

You Live and You Learn

I could relate to this essay from Brian Pessaro. At first my zeal for my Catholic faith and all the TRUTH it provides me with was like a cocktail which made me feel drunk with power!!! I felt so excited and privileged to know the Truth and to finally see the goodness my Church affords me that I perched myself atop that high place and looked at those below with contempt. Life teaches you differently. You begin to see the gift you've been given as an opportunity to SHARE the Truth not HOARD it for yourself!! We are all searching and seeking God, whether we know it or admit to it or not. Some of us are closer some of us are further away but we are all headed in the same direction...The best way to bring other who are far away from the Truth, the Church, God, is to love them and welcome them, with strong witness and good example. This approach needn't make us "squishy" on those "hot topics" like NFP, abortion, or sex, but rather more effective evangelists!! Thanks to Brian for the great article...

The Deadliest Sin, by Brian Pessaro: "We’re all working out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). My spiritual director has helped me realize that the future of the Catholic Church doesn’t depend on me being its self-appointed bouncer. He’s also taught me to hate my own sins more than I hate the sins of others. Lust may be one of the seven deadly sins, but so is pride and wrath. Woe to me if I stood before God at my judgment thinking He owed me something because I used NFP only to be shown my place in hell because of my lack of humility and meekness."

The Blessings and Sacrifices of a Large Family

Found this great article...


FamilyLife: Articles - The Blessings and Sacrifices of a Large Family: "The major lesson that Barbara and I have learned is to submit ourselves to the Lord and die to our own personal agendas. We had to die to some of our own dreams and desires. However, when I look back on what we’ve had to sacrifice compared to what we’ve experienced, what we gave up was petty and worthless.

I think our culture has its course set on the wrong star. We try to find life in fulfilling our desires, but Jesus said that whoever saves his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for Christ’s sake will find it. If you die to self you will live. What we have experienced in having six kids is, admittedly, a lot of death to self. But in the process of dying to self, we have found Jesus Christ to be sufficient."