5 Fun Ideas to Celebrate Family Togetherness

The holidays are a great time to gather with family and friends and simply be together.  With all the hustle and bustle of the season, it’s not always easy to do. So here are 5 Fun Ideas to Celebrate Family Togetherness this holiday season. I LOVE the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas! It’s my favorite time of the year.  Advent calendars come out and kick off the official countdown to the arrival of Santa.  It’s an exciting time to start stringing the Christmas lights and setting up for the return of our favorite Elf On The Shelf!  It’s a time curling up with some hot cocoa while we wait for that first snow to fall.  Christmas music, shopping for gifts, building snowmen…I could go on and on.  Most of all, it’s a time for family. I have always loved huge get-togethers over the holidays; I get it from my Mom.  Thanksgiving and Christmas meals covered tables that stood end-to-end literally weaving through our house so everyone had a place to sit.  The house was full of family and friends; you know the kind of friends I’m talking about…those that are more like family. There was such a sense of togetherness. Our family gatherings over the holidays have gotten smaller over the years.  Family members now live all over the world and a few loved ones are looking down on us from heaven. But no matter how small our family or the number of faces around our table, I want us to remember that spending quality time together as a family is important. Holidays are a great time to take a break from the busy world and just enjoy some family time. No cell phones. No errands. No technology of any kind.  Just some…togetherness.  That’s what the holidays are about. I have some fun ways to add a little more togetherness to your holidays this season.  They are ways to help focus on making more memories that will stay with your family for a lifetime. Try adding one or all of these family tradition ideas to your holiday celebrations this year.

5 Fun Ideas to Celebrate Family Togetherness

Let the kids plan the day.  Don’t panic! I’m not necessarily talking about THE day. Pick a day over the Thanksgiving or Christmas weekend and let the kids plan the whole day.  Give them some rules to guide them; a budget and other limits. It’s a fun, creative way to start some new family traditions. Have a binge-fest. And I’m not necessarily talking about food here.  Each one of us, young and old, has a love for something; be it sports, crafts, or Pokémon Go!  Spend some time over the holiday break re-connecting with one another through that passion.  It may mean you have to bundle up to catch and battle some Pokémon characters or curl up on the couch to binge watch football.  No matter the activity, just remember it’s all about being together! Have a game day. Once your belly’s are full and the table has been cleared, spend the rest of the day playing games.  There are so many family activities and games that are fun for the whole family; board games, Minute To Win It tournaments, corn hole, foosball.  Set up boys against girls or kids against adults.  This is such a great way to engage the entire family. Run. Run. Run. Run a 5K!  This has certainly gained popularity as a yearly tradition for families in recent years.  From training together to the actual race day, running a fun Turkey Trot or other fun run is an exciting and healthy activity that brings the whole family together. Prepare the meal together (even the kiddos).  No, I’m not joking.  Cook with your kids.  Get the whole family involved in making your holiday meal, even the kids.  You will probably need to let go of that picture perfect meal on the table and deal with more of a mess in the kitchen, but the fun memories will be priceless.  This is a wonderful way to not only teach those little ones some life skills, but to spend more quality time together as a family.