By 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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'It was a hidden gem in the county': St. Thomas patients look for alternate solutions as STEGH therapy pool remains closedWorking with service provider Omnia, Central Coast Macca’s outlets have placed more than 30 current employees. One such employee is 30-year-old Christopher Crocker, who is celebrating almost nine years with Macca’s Wadalba. Crocker has Asperger’s Syndrome, but hasn’t let that slow him down. He was invited to Charlie Bell School of Management (McDonald’s training centre) to complete a Hospitality Champions course and has progressed from maintaining the dining room to cooking fries and manning the registers. “I have great workmates and managers, who have all been really supportive,” he said. “I have made lifelong friends at McDonald’s. “My first job was keeping the dining room clean and saying hello to all the customers who came in, which I still do today. “I was gradually taught to do registers and fries, and I’ve started doing shifts in drive-through.” Crocker has also been volunteering with the Central Coast Mariners for more than 11 years and won the Mariners Volunteer of the Year Award in 2016. Thando Gogwana has been working full-time at Macca’s West Gosford for 10 months. Gogwana, who lives with autism, is a well-known and friendly face to customers coming through drive-through and is well-known for his fries and hash browns. He loves that Macca’s procedures and equipment are standardised and routine, and regularly checks in with his Omnia support trainer. “The staff have been great at understanding my limitations, but also finding my strengths,” Gogwana said. “McDonald’s has helped me with independence, my communication, social skills and work skills. “I like that my workmates take an interest in me and other staff with disabilities, as it shows they are invested and want to learn about me, not just train me.” West Gosford franchisee Ron Mussalli has employed hundreds of people with a disability across his 11 Central Coast restaurants over the years, and is a leading advocate for disability inclusion. His business, Saronbell Pty Ltd, has been working with Omnia for more than 13 years, and Mussalli has encouraged many other Macca’s franchisees to do the same. “Being able to provide job opportunities for people with disabilities is core to our values and our commitment to being a part of our communities,” he said. “We mean it when we say Macca’s doors are open to everyone, and we will always strive to ensure our restaurants are places where everyone is welcomed and strength in diversity is valued.” Business Relationship Consultant for Omnia Inclusive Employment, Ash Mackinnon, has been working in partnership with McDonald’s stores on the Central Coast for 13 years. He and Omnia assist the managers and staff in hiring, training and supporting employees with various disabilities. “I get as much satisfaction seeing the McDonald’s managers and staff develop skills in training a diverse workforce as I do assisting our candidates into work,” he said. “McDonald’s have world-class procedures that enable staff of any ability to become a valuable member of the team and to develop to the best of their ability. “McDonald’s hire the smile and they also focus on ability rather than someone’s disability.”
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