HarpingByAPixie
“It’s not what’s under the tree that MATTERS, it’s WHO gathered around it.”
I have been quite behind with my posting in the 365 Photo Challenge. Just the same, I am not yet quitting so I am back today. Now I noticed many photos featured in the challenge of late are under the Christmas theme so I thought maybe I should join the bandwagon.
When we were still all living in Manila, during such holidays, the girls (my two cousins and my two sisters) and I together with our then 5-year old niece, Kim, would play a game-of-card of which name I already forgot. Basically, the mechanics of the game is that players will have a certain number (not lower than 5 separately wrapped gifts) of gifts which they will use as prizes at stake. The deck of cards will be shuffled; put at the center of the circle of gathering and each player will draw one card. An odd card drawn meant that player can get two gifts from any participant he/she would choose (may get both 2 gifts from 1 participant or 1 gift from 2 participants of choice). An even card drawn will get only one gift. A card with queen and king gets you nothing; while a joker means you lose a round. A gift won by a player will then be set aside and the drawing of card will continue until the last gift at stake is taken. After that, everyone will unwrap his/her winnings and everybody can now see what are the items won.
After the unwrapping comes the second part of the game. From the winnings, a player is only allowed to keep one or two gifts depending on what is agreed upon. The rest of the gifts won will be put up again as stakes in the second round. Therefore, everyone has a chance to “steal” from another player.
It is a game that is both fun and annoying. Annoying because, just like any game of chance, sometimes you will end up with nothing. Also, there are times you win a lot in the first round and lose everything in the second part.
We still share a laugh whenever we reminisce it. When we relocated in the countryside, however, we only did this during our first Christmas here. Then business and life happened and we stopped doing it (holiday season means peak season, especially for the bakery, and our businesses are open until December 31. We only close during New Year’s Day).
Well, back to the challenge…my Day-10 entry is picture of a pine tree. My cousin has been wanting a Christmas Tree but she is not getting any support for that project. Christmas is a busy season and we only have January 1 to laze around and mingle like a normal family. The trouble of putting up and then putting away a tree does not encourage anyone to give a vote. I suggested that maybe she should just grow a real tree that we can decorate during the season so, we never have to store it away.
And that is why this tree is planted and standing up here in the same area they use for their gardening hobby which hopefully we can make use of by next Christmas when the works here are finished.
It is raining when I took the pictures this morning because we have a typhoon (hurricane) here so you will notice the cloudy, gloomy sky. But that is the kind of weather that puts me in a mood to write.
Links to the past are as follows:
https://virily.com/challenges/365-photos-challenge-day-9/
https://virily.com/challenges/365-photos-challenge-day8/
https://virily.com/challenges/365-photos-challenge-day-7/
https://virily.com/challenges/365-photos-challenge-day-6/
https://virily.com/challenges/365-photos-challenge-5/
https://virily.com/challenges/365-photos-challenge-4/
https://virily.com/challenges/supermoon-365-photos-challenge-3/
https://virily.com/challenges/mangrovetum-walk-unplanned-365-photos-challenge2/
https://virily.com/challenges/food-heaven-earth-365-photos-challenge-1/
Day-10 of https://virily.com/docandersen/ is here:
https://virily.com/challenges/365-day-photo-challenge-day-10/
If you want to join, click here https://virily.com/art/365-photo-contest-day-1/.
That sounds like a really fun game.
It is…and my niece still treasure its memory
What a cool game..I am going to pinch that for next year….Love this post and yes you will not find many pressies around tree Christmas is not celebrated here we buy a gift for the kids but nothing like when we were in the Uk and yes it is about the people….. One of the ladies on FB posted a picture of her driftwood tree it is lovely… I will copy her picture and send it to you it is so different and you would love it <3 Shared everywhere..I love this post 🙂
Oh thank you. Driftwood here, especially big ones, is commonly turned into furniture that will be suitable for its shape. We have chairs and tables made of driftwood. But I will pass on the idea to the girls as they might find it interesting. We will be fixing this area to make it look like a miniature garden. And yes, that game is something both adults and kids enjoy.
Oh, Tannenbaum.
What a wonderful memory and wonderful pictures. I would think the challenge is as much about sharing as it is hitting every single day!
Which challenge? The 365 Photo Challenge? Well, in that I agree. I got the idea of sharing from your Wander articles lol. I mean sharing us the pictures while telling us some anecdotes makes the reading interesting – at least, that is my POV.