According to the media, the hot gift this past Christmas was the Nintendo Wii gaming system. In the past, I couldn’t have told you the difference between a Playstation and an Xbox and my main concern with them was how to cut down on the playtime the grandkids spent on the couch in front of the TV. A few months before Christmas, this past year, I began to become intrigued by the commercials on TV for a new concept in gaming called a Wii. Maybe it was the unusual name, or the play on words in one of the commercials, interchanging Wii with “we”; but whatever it was that caught my attention, I decided to investigate. To my surprise, the more I looked at the descriptions of this new phenomenon, the more I thought I would like it - - well, not me personally, but to get it for the grandkids (oh, OK, for their daddy, too!). After all, the commercials promised fun for the whole family and the video clips of people playing the Wii games showed them up, off the couch, and doing things that looked suspiciously like exercise! After talking it over with Jeff, we decided that this would be our Christmas present to all of them last year. Of course, my timing couldn’t have been worse, because it was about that same time that everyone else in America decided that was what they also wanted Santa to bring. Although WE wanted a Wii, there was none to be found unless you got your name on a waiting list or you wanted to stand in line waiting for the trucks to unload in the vain chance that one might appear. No luck at Target, Toys R Us, Sears, Penneys, Wal-Mart, or any of the on-line stores – and this was in October! Visions of family togetherness and healthier pastimes spurred me on, however, and I diligently pursued every lead. Luckily, having a son who had connections at Wal-Mart became very helpful. I found out what day the truck was supposed to deliver three of the precious cargos and I made sure I was at the right place at the right time. Finally, the coveted Wii rested in our secret hiding place in the closet to await the Christmas festivities.
I was so tickled to have the consummate gift, which I knew the grandkids would never suspect they were getting. However, you can never underestimate the cleverness, or I guess in this case, the sheer luck, of children on a mission to discover what will be under all that wrapping paper they have to wait so long to tear into. Audrie and Jamie are in the habit of coming into my office after school and sometimes I let them do homework and research on my computer. Of course, this was the same computer that I had done some of my research about the Wii on. Unbeknown to me, these computer savvy whizzes are very observant of the history button on the search bar in Google! So it wasn’t long before I heard, via the grapevine, that Audrie had told Jamie that she knew what they were getting from NaNa and Poppa for Christmas. All of my hearty denials did not seem to put a dent in their enthusiasm for having found out! A plan must be commenced to foil such audacity – so the grownups put their heads together and came up with a clever little deception. We hadn’t planned on opening presents with our kids and grandkids until the day after Christmas. However, they would also be at the one we were having with Jeff’s family at our house on Christmas night. We wrapped the Wii and put it in the huge pile of gifts that would be opened that night. But we put Jeff’s brother Steve’s name on the tag and said it was from everybody. After all the other presents had been opened, we presented Steve with the wrapped Wii and said it was a special gift because he had been so good this year. Of course, Steve was privy to our little joke and played it to the hilt, professing surprise and trying to guess what it could be. He even mentioned how much he wanted a Wii, but that he knew that couldn’t be what was in the package. Audrie, Jamie and Zacharie were watching with wide eyes, as were Jeff’s teenage nieces and nephews, who weren’t in on the joke. When Steve finally got the package open and started gushing over the Wii, the expressions on the face of the kids (and the teenagers) was priceless! Steve kept going on and on about how much he wanted this and how hard they were to get, but he also said he just couldn’t accept it with all these kids sitting around that he knew would love one and he offered to give it to someone else who might want it. By that time, the kids had figured out what was going on and we all had a good laugh and a discussion about how too much snooping around might not turn out so good after all!
The hardest part for them was knowing they would have to wait until tomorrow to get it out of the box and actually play it. In fact, we had them leave it at our house for Poppa to hook up because they would be back the next day. After we had finished all our festivities the next day, it was finally time to get the Wii going. We had bought a few games to go with it, but we started out with the beginner games of bowling, baseball and boxing. Several hours later, we were still at it. And by we, I mean all of us, myself included. I’m sure we resembled some of the hilarious clips that they show on the Wii website of people learning to play. http://us.wii.com/experience_gallery.jsp What they say in the commercials is true – you do get up off the couch and get a very good workout on some of the games. It was just good family FUN!
We were leaving the weekend after Christmas to go to Owensboro with the grandkids to try ice-skating on the outdoor rink there (a novelty around these parts). Of course we had to bring the Wii along and enjoy it in between skate time. I don’t know what the kids enjoyed most or what gave them the most exercise – the ice-skating or the Wii games! I know they enjoyed both, but the Wii was a lot less COLD!
All in all, I am glad we decided to get one for them. I was actually sorry to see it leave when the kids finally took it home with them. It seems odd to me to pay compliments to a video game, but I really think the Nintendo people are onto something here. Recently I watched a news clip about a rehab center in Paducah that was using the Wii games as part of the therapy for stroke victims. And one of my friends that works at an area nursing home told me they had purchased one for the residents there. Now we are anxiously awaiting the release of the Wii Fit software this spring. It tracks your stamina and body mass index through exercise games. I can see some sore muscles coming up!
I admit it – I’m addicted; or at least I would be if they’d just bring it back and let me play with it!!!!!!!! Who would have thunk it!!!
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