Truth or Carol

In 2023, I hosted my first Christmas at home. I wanted something that would bring everyone together, so I made a game.

Our family spans multiple countries and three languages. The first version had carols in English, Italian, and German, printed on printer paper and cut by hand. It worked better than I could have ever expected. People were singing. People were laughing. People were telling stories they'd never told out loud before.

The game got borrowed for New Year's Eve celebrations. Then borrowed again for a class party. The following year I brought it to a company Christmas party and the same thing happened: colleagues who barely knew each other singing, telling stories, surprising themselves.

Since then I've been taking prototype after prototype to game nights and conferences wherever I go (I must be on version 2000 by now!). Every year we take it out again as a family at Christmastime.

Christmas is at its best when someone acts silly and doesn't care, when a thoughtful question comes your way, when a story you've never told finally comes out. That's what this game is for.

— Sarit