The Game of Ludo, a Free Traditional Game for Christmas!

 

 

Here is the Game of Ludo, a FREE traditional game for you and your family to download and play this Christmas.

This game appeared in England in 1896 and was a simplified version of the traditional Indian game of Pachisi. Each player spins the wheel in turn, and the first to get six starts. Afterwards the player travels as many spaces as the wheel shows. If you land on the same square as another player, that player has to return their counter back to their base. The player who gets all four of their counters home first, wins.

 

This game was to become one of the most popular "race" games appearing in many "Christmas Compendiums", boxed collections of games that were bought for the family to play during the holiday season.

You can download a free version below, but these are large files so please be patient.

DOWNLOAD

Hats Off! – a free traditional game to play this Christmas

 

Hats Off  was originally billed at the time of its release as “The New Card Game Brimful of Merriment”. Cheaply printed in black and white in a small size this game proved to be very popular.

Two to five players can enjoy this screamingly funny game.The cards are shuffled and placed on the table face downwards. Players take a turn in removing a card from the pack and placing it down in a pile. When a card without a hat appears on the pile, players try to be first in recognizing this. They must shout "HATS OFF I" and also touch lightly the crown of their head. The first player to do both things takes the pile. When there remain no more cards in the pack to pick up, players continue to go with  cards from their pile of winnings, if any. Winnings must be placed face downwards. The player who has cards left when all other players have no more cards to go with is the winner.

You can download this wonderful game free below. Be patient the zipped PDF might take a few minutes to download.

 

DOWNLOAD

Go – Bang & Reverse, Free Traditional Games for Christmas

Here are a couple of traditional games that you can download and play this Christmas for FREE!

 

GO-BANG.

This ancient but fascinating game is said to have been the favourite amusement of the late Lord Alverstone.

It is played by two players on the  board you can download below, each player having twelve counters. The players toss for first move and then each in turn places one of his counters on any unoccupied square. The object is to get five counters in a straight line, either vertically, laterally or diagonally. If players are inexperienced, one will probably succeed in doing this before twelve counters have been played and the game then comes to an abrupt end, but with practised players it is most unlikely that this will happen. Each will have placed twelve counters on the board without achieving his aim. The most interesting part of the game now begins. Each player in turn moves one of his counters to any adjacent unoccupied square and this goes on until someone has five in a row.

REVERSE

This can be played with the same pieces and board.The game is for two players, each of whom takes a colour. They toss for the first move; then each in turn takes a counter and places it, with his colour uppermost, on any unoccupied square.
The strategic squares are the corners, which will be the first occupied.
As soon as one or more of his adversary's counters are in line with a counter belonging to either player, he may, when it is his turn to play, place one of his counters at the other end of the line—if there is an unoccupied square there—and may then reverse (i.e., change to his own colours) all the counters which are situated between two of his own. The counters may be reversed and re-reversed indefinitely. Moreover, if the situation is favourable, a player operating from a particular square may reverse one or more counters in any number of directions, ft the end of the game (i.e. when the sixty-fourth square is occupied) the winner is, of course, the player whose counters are in the majority.

 

You can download the zipped up PDF file here, but it is a large so it might take a few minutes to download.

 

DOWNLOAD

 

Chess – Free Traditional Games for Christmas!

Do you remember what Christmas used to be like, playing games around the Christmas tree with the whole family?

Here for your pleasure and entertainment is a chess board and pieces. Ideal not only for chess but draughts and Fox & Geese

Chess is a board game played between two players. The current form of the game emerged in Europe during the second half of the 15th century after evolving from a much older game of Indian origin. Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, on-line, by correspondence, and in tournaments.

Download your Virus Free PDF here. It is zipped up but it is still quite a big file, so be patient

DOWNLOAD

Remember Those Family Christmas Traditions

Many people share specific Christmas traditions with their family that they learned from their own families growing up. Being part of a family inevitably means there will be traditions passed down through the years.

 But maybe you’re just beginning your Christmas holidays as a family and you don’t really have any traditions of your own yet. There are many popular traditions that you can pick from and make them a part of your own holiday traditions. There are traditions that are suitable for any age group.

 One favorite holiday tradition in many families is making Christmas cards to send out. You can choose to send cards personalized with your own family photo and a poem or a few lines telling the receiver what they mean to you. If you don’t have the time to make Christmas cards, you can get store bought ones and add your own touch to them.

 Another well-known holiday tradition is attending a church event together. Many churches have Christmas Eve services that are beautiful with all the decorations and the soft glow of candlelight. Many churches choose to pass on the live poinsettias they use in decorations on to the people who attend the service.

 Young children can write letters to Santa and take it to the local post office. Some post offices have a special box set up just for letters from Santa. Kids can also get involved in decorating the Christmas tree and as you hang the ornaments on the tree, if there’s no history behind the ornaments, you can share bits of your history with your child or talk about the meaning of Christmas.

 Putting up the tree can become a time of sharing conversation that children look forward to. You can start a tradition of listening to certain songs as you put up the tree. One family listened to Bing Crosby Christmas songs while putting up their tree over forty ago, then their grown children kept up the tradition and later passed it on to their children.

 A well received tradition is the practice of dining by candlelight on Christmas Eve and afterward, each family member opens one gift. You’ll want to set aside a particular gift on Christmas Eve so that you’re not digging through the piles of gifts to find it.

 After the gifts are open, gather together to sing Christmas songs. Christmas is filled with anticipation of the coming day and the days leading up to it should be celebrated just as much as the day is.

 Most cities have Christmas parades or Christmas music shows that residents can attend. Make it a habit to attend one every year. The night before Christmas, begin the tradition of reading a Christmas book, sharing the Christmas story, or watching a much loved Christmas movie together. Whatever traditions you decide to incorporate into your family, you’ll be glad you did. It’ll make the holidays more meaningful and give everyone something to look forward to.

How Did the Custom of Christmas Trees Start?

Many people celebrate the holiday, but few know the history of why people have Christmas trees as part of the décor.  Having trees as part of Christmas did not begin as an American custom. The practice of setting up a Christmas tree first began as early as the 1500s as a German custom but the idea wasn’t widely accepted in the beginning.

 Many areas of Germany didn’t start celebrating the Christmas holidays with a tree until the later part of the 1800s. By the the 1900s, two classes of people in Europe – the wealthy and royalty- started putting up Christmas trees and from there, the tradition was born.

 When the first wave of people left their country and came and settled in the New World, many brought with them the tradition of putting up evergreens inside their home and decorating small trees outside the home with whatever treasures nature provided.

In America however, the Christmas tree was much slower to catch on. Some people thought the Christmas tree was a symbol associated with Christians, but Christians were not open to the idea of having a tree in the midst of their holiday celebration.

 It was regarded with suspicion and religious people believed the tree to be a symbol of paganism even though that belief was incorrect. Because of that belief, many Christians refused to have anything to do with Christmas trees. But slowly, the custom caught on.

 Christmas trees first began to be marketed in the United States in the mid 1800s and were also accepted into the White House by the then residing President. Christmas trees were set up in public displays, trimmed with decorations and people were awed by the beauty. Toward the latter part of the 1800s a well known retail store saw the need for artificial trees and began selling them to customers.

 In some countries, Winter Solstice heralded the time to set up the Christmas tree-close to the arrival of Christmas day. The first week of January was widely regarded as time to remove the tree and all its trimmings.

 Today, the Christmas tree is customarily set up shortly after the Thanksgiving holiday in America but some families set it up earlier. Taking down the tree is generally still done the first week of January but some families wait until after New Years Day.

 This is due to the old wives tale that what you’re doing on January 1, you’ll do all year long. Since taking down the tree is hard work, folks believed that by taking it down then, that meant they would work hard all year long.

 Whether the tree is put up after Thanksgiving or taken down after New Year’s Day, this is one custom that is loved and practiced by many. A Christmas tree can add a bright sparkle to your holidays, a well decorated, celebrated finishing touch.

Find Books to Remind You of the True Meaning of Christmas

Christmas can easily become a season of the gimmes. Gimme toys, gimme electronic gadgets, gimmme gift certificates. It’s not about the parties or the sharing of tasty meals, either. The real meaning of Christmas can so easily get lost. All the holiday gift giving, all the parties, all of the shiny decorations can take over the meaning of Christmas and it can get swallowed up. Christmas books can help remind you of what it’s really all about.

 The simple family Christmas gatherings of the past have turned into one stress after another until you can feel like you’re stuck in a maze. With the hustle and bustle of everything going on, there is a tendency to get lost in all the fuss and loose sight of what it is all about.

 But it doesn’t have to stay that way. You can get back on track and have the true meaning of Christmas foremost in your holiday celebrations. You can pick out Christmas books that you can read together as a family that will show the true meaning of the holiday.

 These books come in different formats and aren’t difficult to get ahold of. If you have little ones at home and you want them to understand that Christmas is not about the material possessions, start a practice of sharing Christmas related stories after dinner every night or as a bedtime story. You can get under the blankets together and teach them holiday priorities that will last a lifetime. Start with ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas!

 You can easily purchase these books from most retail stores or online stores that carry Christmas products. There are even some books that will share the meaning of Christmas in a way that make it come alive for your family by allowing the acting out of parts of the story.

 Some books will offer you the opportunity to personal the stories by putting your child’s name in the book. Children remember the stories because of hearing their name used. And what child doesn’t laugh out loud and beg for more when his or her parents read a story about The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

 What are the best books to buy that can teach the meaning of the holiday? The books that teach about giving and being thankful for even the small things in life like The Christmas Shoes.

 Find books that teach about the origin of Christmas and the peaceful day that it started out as. Look for books that teach that Christmas is about being grateful for family, that it’s about not focusing on ourselves but on being there for others.

 Seek to purchase books that will teach about how Christmas is shared the world over. Children are natural born learners and they soak in what they’re taught but when we get to busy during Christmas with the getting and the glittery decorating, they can learn the wrong lessons. So take the time out to share with them Christmas books that will show them the real meaning of this holiday.