R is for Rummy

Growing up in my family the game of choice was Rummy. I remember sitting around the table with a handful of cards, drinking my mother's homemade mocha and trying to figure out if Mom was going to go out on her next turn.

We typically played Rummy 500--the first person to 500 points wins--rather than Gin Rummy--going out all at once. But my mother was (and still is) famous for holding all her cards as long as possible and laying them all out at once, leaving you with a hand full of points. "Hee hee!" she exclaims.

Dad taught me to shuffle and make the cards all bridge together as I did so; Mom taught me that it's better to collect as many of a suit as possible rather than go for easy points of three-of-a-kind. Dad usually kept score; Kristen and I ate a lot of cookies.

We played other games from time to time--Monopoly and Acquire and Hearts for the most part--but Rummy is the Friedenstein game of choice.

Our little family doesn't play many games all together. Emma loves to play Mancala; Audrey does too. But mostly I play one-on-one with the girls. Go Fish, Old Maid, Chutes and Ladders. We sit in the bay window in the living room, watching the world go by.

It might be time to teach them to play Rummy. Their hands are finally getting big enough to hold a hand of cards without the cards flying everywhere (or having to build a little fort around them so no one else can see your cards!).

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R is also for responses. Thanks to all of you who responded to the questions below. Great, great answers and very helpful. Thank you, thank you, thank you! For those of you who haven't responded, it's not too late.

And for rest--something I'm a BIG fan of! The older I get, the more I realize its importance for our family. Bedtime is pretty strict around here--myself included--and if I'm going to make any headway on my book tonight, I need to go get in bed before lights out.

Comments

[Holly Smith]

We taught Noah and Kylie to play Rummikub this past weekend. That may be a good beginning to cards.

Praying for your writing today! I think you probably also have a lot to get ready for this weekend, like I do, is that right?
See you Friday!
With Joy,
holly