Christmas Houses
A Clarey Family Holiday Driving Game
After a long day of Christmas shopping, we all pile in the car, swing through a drive-thru, and set out on the two-plus hour drive home.
We're used to this, living where we do. (Drive out to the middle of nowhere and then drive another five miles, as my grandmother says).
Long drives happen all year round, but they're less tedious at Christmas time. Stuart McLean tells Christmas stories from the Vinyl Cafe on the radio, and we all count the 'Christmas Houses' that we pass along the highway.
This is our favourite game, and we somehow never lose our place even through long stretches of no houses at all. (Or if we do, we don't admit it. Just pick the last number we think we remember and keep going.)
As a child, I couldn't imagine those drives would ever stop.
As an adult, I'm struck by how much I miss them.
About the Creator
Kelsey Clarey
She/Her/Fae/Faer. I live in Nova Scotia, Canada. I mostly write poetry and flash fiction currently, a lot of it fantasy/folklore/fairy tale inspired. I also like to do a lot of fiber arts and design TTRPGs.
https://linktr.ee/islanderscaper
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Comments (6)
You really captured the nostaglia in this :( I loved hearing about the family tradition.
A lovely poem capturing family traditions & memories… we regularly went on long trips to visit family (1200-2000 kms) & when the kids were young, we’d hum a tune for everyone to guess. It worked well until one scallywag dreamt his own song & lyrics 😵💫.
This is great. We used to count the gas stations on long trips when we were a kid. But counting Christmas houses is even more. fun. Very well done, you bought back memoirs
Omgggg, I use to play something similar with my cousins as well!
This is great, Kelsey! Reminds me of the the many creative ways we used to pass the time as children on long trips.
Thanks for sharing it.