My mom probably can’t remember what I got her for Christmas last year (neither can I), but she remembers that our extended family played Just Dance on a Christmas Eve a decade-plus ago, and also that I brought Rock Band 3 (with mics, guitars, and a real drum kit) to another one 15 years ago!

I also can’t tell you what I got last year, but I know what videogame I got what year and precisely how excited I was about it! But obviously, you don’t have to be as insane as me about videogames for them to help you fondly remember a family holiday, if it can stick out in my even mom’s mind like that (she couldn’t be any less of a “gamer” — she couldn’t get past the first Goomba in Super Mario  Bros. in 1988 and still can’t I’m sure).

Christmas Eve has always been the most fun night of the year for me, because I’d get to see my entire family — uncles, aunts, and cousins — all together in one place for one evening only. I’m an only child, and actually for a long time, I didn’t even have any little cousins running around since I was the first of my generation. This made me even closer to my mom, her three brothers, my grandparents, and my adult cousins. (Fortunately for me, some of them were also into videogames even back then, and it’s been something we’ve always been able to have in common.)

Games Done Legit got to be a part of another really fun, really huge holiday party (an ’80s-themed one, at that) this past weekend, bringing a ton of ’80s videogames and arcade machines, and I always have a front-row seat to see yet again how strongly people are emotionally attached to the videogames they played as kids, I couldn’t help but laugh when my mom asked me about bringing Just Dance or Rock Band to our family Christmas Eve once again.     

I’m 42 with 2 kids, and we have I think 8 little cousins in our extended family now.  It’s a really great feeling to see how much our kids love Christmas and spending time with their family, too. It’s just a great bonus that they’re getting old enough to play videogames with us too (even if it’s stuff as simple as Just Dance and Skylanders), so they can begin to form memories around game experiences with their family at the holidays that I hope they cherish forever, too.

Whether it was through Just Dance, Duck Hunt, Wii Sports, or whatever, I hope that you have some strong memories of how videogames helped you enjoy the holidays with your friends and family, too! They just have a way of bringing people together, and the more see it for myself in thousands and thousands of people, the more it mystifies, enthralls, and delights me, and I couldn’t be happier in being able to say I bring a small amount of joy to others.