Christmas Games
We were playing a game, suggested by my 12 year old niece, which is where there is one fewer chair than person and you call out a “Anybody who [— —],please stand up.” At which point, everyone in the category runs for a different chair vacated by other person in the category.
My brother-in-law says “Whoever voted for Bush in the last election.” I’m not sure what this is getting at, as I am sure he knows that his parents didn’t vote for Bush, my brother and I didn’t vote for Bush, and the under-18 crowd of kids or the foreign exchange student did not vote for Bush, and I’m fairly sure he does not know who my parents voted for at all. (His parents are of a Union-type variety, and my mother thought she could get my brother and I off our seats by saying “Whoever was given a greeting of “Happy Festivus.” — which I think was supposed to suggest a sort of Bohemian culture. I might have said that “Well, when you start hearing it, it’s a sign that it’s passe”, but nevermind. I note Rick Emerson’s greeting of “The following post will not contain no, I repeat no obligatory, tiresome references to Festivus and/or Chrismukkah.”) My father and my sister exchanged places — they might have been sitting next to each other. My mother expressed that she did not remember who she voted for — a nice bit of repressed memory, and I imagine her at the polling place treating the election as a necessary scab that had to be removed — arms outstretched as she pulled the level as she looked away.
My brother-in-law is flummoxed and sighs. “That didn’t work out very well.” I utter, “Hey! I voted for the Libertarian!” My brother-in-law says, “Yeah, that sounds about right. I thought you might have.”
I’m… not sure what that is supposed to mean. (I assume he heard all the same things about Kerry and “I actually voted for the $80 Billion before I voted against it” — which was actually a statement that was not part of his crime-list, but can easily be construed onto it.)
At any rate, my sister laughs and says “Whoever does not know the name of the person they voted for–” To which I Snided “Badnarik!” And the game continued. Losing steam toward the end, but that’s the nature of these things.