Harassment & HurdlesBy KRISTEN WOOD Chilly weather and early nights make the holiday season the best time of year for cuddling up with your favorite games. From enjoying a quiet afternoon alone to gathering with family, these board, video and card games will bring cozy vibes to your holiday gaming. The holidays are prime time for coziness. Cold weather, hot drinks and days off work or school are perfect for snuggling up under a blanket. With many games designed to be cozy, relaxed and lighthearted, accompanying your cozy afternoons with a game might be your new holiday tradition. Many holidays bring together friends and family as well. While some families may look forward to feuding over the Risk board or resources in Settlers of Catan, more low-key games can be an opportunity to bond with loved ones. Cooperative games or games with a bit of friendly competition let you focus on who you’re playing with. Since these cozy games often have easier instructions, everyone can get involved. A busy holiday season also benefits from rest. Take a break from shopping, cooking, traveling and other holiday tasks with some games. Stress-busting games let you enjoy a couple of hours of quiet gameplay or raucous laughter, both sure to provide some relaxation. Relaxing board games are great for a lazy afternoon with friends or after dinner at a holiday party. These games often feature cooperative play or minimal competition, beautiful artwork and straightforward gameplay ideal for all ages. For the holidays, these games provide a whimsical escape from seasonal chaos. Patchwork Patchwork is a chill two-player puzzle game where you and your opponent compete to create the best quilt. The tactile experience and cozy results are relaxing on a chilly day. If you have more than two players, try Calico instead where you’ll create quilts for cats. Carcassonne In Carcassonne, players compete to build Medieval cities and fields by laying tiles. The game takes a bit of strategy and luck, and it will generate some friendly competition among children and adults alike. The charming artwork of parks, featuring America’s national parks, will also transport you on a road trip from the comfort of your home. Everdell and Flamecraft For those looking for longer gameplay, Everdell will have you playing as cute forest creatures building new cities during a game that averages a little over an hour. Flamecraft is another delightfully whimsical game where players try to attract dragons to improve the reputation of their shops. Each of these games is simple to pick up and, with every playthrough offering something new, they’ll get you through the entire holiday season. Parks, Everdell and Flamecraft can also be single-player games if you need a break from socialization. Snuggling up on the couch with a video game is inherently relaxing. Whether you enjoy mobile, computer, handheld or console games, the cozy game genre provides dozens of options. This season, try games ranging from relaxing to enchanting. If having everything in its place provides calm in the chaos of the holiday season, you’ll love Unpacking. This puzzle game, available on Switch, PC and Xbox, has you unpacking boxes and putting items away. Playing games like Unpacking can be a meditative experience. Other puzzle games like A Little to the Left and Spiritfarer blend stories into the gameplay. For spooky autumn vibes, try Strange Horticulture and play as the owner of a plant shop and potion maker. Maintaining a virtual farm or building a make-believe castle from your sofa can be a great stress reliever. Stardew Valley is a quintessential farming game surrounded by charming townspeople. With the highly anticipated November update, you can now play on console, mobile and PC. Palia , a massively multiplayer online game, features farming, quests and community building with other players. It’s also free. For those with a Nintendo Switch, the Animal Crossing series has you interacting with other animal players in a peaceful village. With multiplayer modes, these games are great options for playing with friends and family from afar during the holidays. For a single-player escape, try the recently-released Tiny Glade on PC where you’ll build castles. This cozy game’s detailed artistry and conflict-free gameplay will bring hours of relaxation. Or build a world from tiles in Dorfromantik. The game can be entirely chill or provide a bit of strategy if you want to go for a high score. A pack of cards is reliable entertainment at any gathering. From classics to innovative new card games, having a few in your game collection can be worthwhile. Card games can range from simple to complex, a few minutes to a few hours and single-player to dozens of players. If you have a standard deck of playing cards, Blitz is a great option for any number of players. Also known as Thirty One, this game gives every player three cards and lets them trade out a card on each turn, trying to get a value of thirty-one. President is another simple social card game where players race to get rid of their cards in ascending order. If you are imbibing this holiday season, some people play it as a drinking game. For a two-player card game, try The Fox in the Forest. This trick-taking card game features cozy graphics, and its fast, simple gameplay is perfect for a winter date night. For two to four players, Arboretum has darling tree graphics on its cards. Players lay cards down with the goal of creating a beautiful garden. This holiday season, be sure to take time to connect with loved ones and catch a few moments to yourself. Cozy games are a lighthearted escape. As the genre grows, there are options for everyone this season, from mindless games to those that require a touch of strategy – perfect for any mood or moment. Kristen Wood is a writer, photographer, avid cozy gamer and creator of The Cozy Gaming Nook , your source for everything cozy games. Her work has been featured in various online and print publications, including Elle, NBC, Forbes, Chicago Sun-Times, Martha Stewart, Seattle Times and more.

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HOTSPOT I won’t be able to forget 2024. I would gladly say goodbye to it, but would always remember it for many reasons. On a personal level, this is the year we marked an important family milestone: the birth in February of my sister’s first granddaughter Stella Avery. We were as happy as when CJ, the first grandson, was born six years before. I cried when I called my niece to congratulate her. Those were happy tears, but also sad tears because Mama is no longer around to see, hold, and take care of her first great-granddaughter. I immediately thought that it would have made Mama extra-happy to have a girl as her second “apo-sa-tuhod.” The arrival of CJ (and then Avery) made my sister into a “lola,” and we her two brothers, technically “lolos” since 2017. Also in the first quarter of 2024, I was personally introduced to the idea and practice of “maintenance” medicines, after the health center doctor told me that I needed them. By April, a young doctor who I “met” during the pandemic started to take care of me, made a diagnoses, and prescribed new medicines. I had to buy myself a pill box to keep track. By October, my current doctor ordered a diagnostic procedure, and the results determined that I should undergo a subsequent procedure in the soonest possible time. I was able to undergo the recommended procedure by the following month, thanks to help from friends and family, public funding, PWD benefits, and also PhilHealth. Both were done in a public hospital, under the auspices of awesome public sector doctors and nurses. I am grateful to them. I cannot deny that I got scared, but I thought it was better to take the doctor’s advice and prescriptions seriously, as well as those of my aunt who is a life-long nurse. It is something that runs in the family and I felt it was better to be pro-active about it. It may get worse if I left matters unattended. Our Tita Liwanag, one of Mama’s siblings, always checks on me. Many have seen or endured long lines at the Philippine Heart Center and East Avenue Medical Center that start at three or four in the morning. There must be better, more efficient, and more humane ways to avail of our right to healthcare. The national debates on PhilHealth, in particular, and medical assistance, in general are personal to many of us. We deserve a future where no one would have to beg, go around soliciting medical assistance, go bankrupt, or suffer and die unnecessarily, and where health services is free because healthcare is a right. The debates must be informed by the situation on-ground and the health needs of our people. The year 2024 is also a great, memorable year for Philippine politics, with both houses of Congress investigating Vice President Sara Duterte over her alleged misuse of confidential funds, and former President Rodrigo Duterte regarding the bloody drug war. We have a new, more competent Education secretary. The Marcos administration has said it will not stop the International Criminal Court’s investigation and would cooperate with Interpol in the event it implements an ICC arrest warrant. The controversial POGOs have been shuttered, and the Bamban mayor has been removed from office and now faces charges in court and before the Commission on Elections. Accused human and sex trafficker Apollo Quiboloy has been arrested and detained, after weeks of trying to evade arresting officers. Mary Jane Veloso has been repatriated from Indonesia and awaits a well-deserved pardon or clemency. Atom Araullo won a landmark legal victory against red-taggers Lorraine Badoy Partosa and Jeffrey Celiz. Pope Francis raised Kalookan Bishop Pablo Virgilio David, a fearless voice of justice, to the dignity of a cardinal, the first Filipino non-metropolitan and suffragan bishop to be so honored. In response to a clamor for new leaders, Makabayan offers a nearly-complete senatorial slate composed of 11 grassroots leaders and veteran progressive lawmakers. ACT Teachers and Gabriela are running for re-election, and Bayan Muna aims for a political comeback. The year 2024 is also the most brilliant in our Olympic history, thanks to Carlos Yulo’s two golds, Aira Villegas’ silver, and Nesthy Petecio’s bronze. No doubt, we faced many challenges too, with rising prices, inflation and cost of living, and with government scandals that humiliate us and deprive us of what we rightfully deserve. The small and big victories, personal and political, should give us hope in 2025. Let’s do everything to make things better for ourselves but especially for the kids like CJ and Avery.