I always look forward to Thanksgiving weekend because it’s a chance to get away from work for a few days and have some fun with my family. This year we continued the tradition of having my brother join us from D.C. for turkey, football, and the World’s Largest Disco.

Heather once again outdid herself with the feast, and in particular with the pumpkin/pecan/caramel cheesecake for dessert! And after dinner, thanks to a generous donation of Christmas money from my parents (which we spent a little early – sorry, Mom and Dad) we broke out the Beatles Rock Band game that we had been eagerly waiting to play.

My rationalization for opening it early is the fact that my brother and my parents will be in Florida over Christmas, so we wanted to share it with family while Drew was here. And since the Lions got blown out so completely – again – on Thanksgiving Day, we needed an emotional boost.

Let me just say that for Beatles fans like us, this game is nirvana. Everything from the graphics to the way each song sounds is perfect. We worked our way up from Easy to Medium relatively quickly, and even to Hard on several songs that we know particularly well. Heather and I were on bass and guitar, Drew on drums, and even the kids sang vocals on some of the easier songs.

There was a moment during Here Comes The Sun that moved me. The song is already so wistfully hopeful and bright, and maybe it was also seeing the late George Harrison playing serenely on screen with us, but the experience of performing it together with my little family created another indelible memory. Being able to share this music, a piece of my childhood, in such a unique and modern way with my children was pretty special.

From a technical standpoint, I can’t think of a better way to introduce basic musical concepts to children than Rock Band or Guitar Hero. It’s easy to follow the vocals and guitar in the beginner modes, so you’re playing along immediately, and you really do get a decent feel for rhythm while following the drum prompts. It’s music, but it’s a video game, which makes learning it cool, rather than work.

We literally spent hours playing the game between Thanksgiving and Saturday night, when it was time to get our costumes on and head for the World’s Largest Disco. What can I say about the event except it never disappoints. As you can see, a good time was had by all.

Funny story: the afro I was wearing, at some point in the evening, started moving from the front to the back of my head. I whipped it off near the end of the night, and somehow lost track of it between the time we finally left the party and got home. I have no idea where it is now, but I have a feeling it’s not the only foam-padded black curly wig that was misplaced that evening.

Until next year!

–Brian