đ Bonus! 24 Boxes and Banter
A game and refuge for December 24th
If you think these are cool or useful offerings, please help me spread the word. đ
Youâre sitting between Uncle Don and Aunt Pam. Your mom has dressed you, even though youâre in youâre 30s. Youâve heard âLast Christmasâ three times already, and your cat puked up something that isnât cat hair.
Someone asks why youâre still single. Someone else starts talking about âthe border situation.â Your cousin wonât stop showing you their crypto portfolio. You feel your jaw tightening. Youâre thinking about your phone. Youâre thinking about leaving.
What if you had a map for this moment? Or an escape hatch?
Alas. Iâve got two other offerings, specifically designed for December 24th.
24 Boxes: A game about presence
Youâve heard of âmindfulness bells.â Allow me to introduce âmindfulness bingo.â
Thereâs no real way to play. Thereâs no wrong way to play.
Use it to reflect afterward (âI got all boundaries, zero in the âI feelâ columnâŚ?â)
Mark boxes as you practice them (even if you fumble)
Share wins in tomorrowâs chat (more on this later)
Just reference it for funsies (why not?)
Ignore it entirely. (YOLO!)
Double-dipping is okay. Say, for example, someone says,
âHey arenât you so glad the Department of Government Efficiency got to ensure a random private citizen/Lex Luther could be privy to sensitive data of everything?â
Notice when you judge
Decline to engage
Go to the bathroom
âNo, really. Your breeding years are almost over. Why donât any men want you?â
Do a body scan
Say, âI feel hurt when you say things like that. Itâs as if you can only see me for my reproductive capacity.â
Ask a follow-up question
âIâm really grateful you came home this year. Iâm sorry Iâve been such a bad friend. Can we restart monthly phone calls?â
Breathe before you respond
âI feel [happy] you asked.â
State a limit / ask a follow-up question / âNo.â (Itâs a complete sentence.)
If youâre on the fence about whether whatever you did counted, it did! Congrats! Mark the box.
Different Strokes
I cannot be the only fountain pen person here. (COME OUT OF THE FOUNTAIN PEN CLOSET. SHOW YOURSELVES IN THE COMMENTS SECTION.)
There are two versions:
đą Digital â Save to your phone, screenshot, mark progress in your photo app
đ¨ď¸ Print â A printer friendly version to fold and keep in your pocket! Use your favorite Diamine Ink (clearly Stargazer or Tempest because you have excellent taste).
The Holiday Chat (1-6pm PST)
Tomorrow (December 24th), Iâll be tending the Light Hive chat for five hours.
Iâll drop little prompts and salutations through the five hour block. You can respond or just say hi and share how your day is going. Paste in your 24 Boxes wins!
The chat is
A chill place to check in
A refuge on a day that can feel isolating
Easily muted! This will run for five hours, and you can mute chat notifications! Lurk and observe my descent into madness as I type into the void!
You donât need to play 24 Boxes to join the chat. You donât need to join the chat to play 24 Boxes. Theyâre separate invitations.
Please share this with whoever you think might find this cool and, most of all, most sincerely, enjoy the day.
Light Hive offers embodied and engaged practices in systems designed to disconnect. Subscribe for cultural analysis, community care, and thoughts on play.
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Newly un-paywalled post on December Dukkha! I still think about Kim Allen said: itâs healthy for fields to lie fallow sometimes. Why not us, too?đ







So so good, Logan! I donât have family visiting but even just with the 5 of us there will be plenty of opportunity to play along. Thank you for making this!