Spending time together with your family is not only one of the most important things that you can do, it can also create some of the most memorable times of your life. Whether you decide to have a stay at home date watching movies together, or got out for an evening of family-filled fun, the memories you make together will last a lifetime.
My family consists of my husband, me, our dog, cat and soon some fish. Our family time may be a little different than yours but the importance is still the same. A few things to remember when you are having family time:
- Give each other your full attention. Put away the phones, turn off the TV, focus on the people around you.
- Do something everyone can enjoy. Try to pick an activity that will be fun for everyone even the ones who have never done it before.
- Talk to each other. Now is the time to connect to your family see what is going on in their lives, and what they are thinking.
- Another idea is to have one person plan everything, or for kids pick the activity, and surprise the others.
- Remember that it doesn’t need to cost a lot to be fun. Some of my favorite memories are from times we spent no extra money at all.
Some things that my husband and I like to do are:
- Make a nice dinner at home and watch “terrible” movies together on Netflix while making fun of them the whole time. This usually leads to some fun inside jokes and a memorable laugh that we will share.
- Take our animals for a nice walk in a State Park or a nice walking trail. Not only is it good exercise but we talk about random things and it always makes us closer.
- Go out for a dinner at our favorite restaurant. Sharing great food with the people that matter most to you is always a way to make memories.
- Just do “nothing” sometimes nothing can spawn the best ideas you have ever had together. Some of the most fun and memorable things my husband and I have done have come from spur of the moment ideas we had while we were just hanging out together.
- Do something related to a hobby that a member of your family has. This will allow you to draw closer to each other and at the same time you may find a new hobby yourself.
As you can see it does not matter what you do together, all that matters is that you are enjoying a time with the people that mean the most to you. There are an almost endless amount of things that you can do to make yourself closer to your family, unfortunately, most of the time we get so caught up in everyday life that sometimes we forget to spend time with the ones that matter most. So this year put your phone down, don’t let your everyday life get in the way and enjoy some time with your family and make memories that will last a lifetime.
Renee shares her favorite things in life at Married and Hungry. Hoping that her newlywed situations and thoughts will help another new wife out there, and to let them know they are not alone. Being a self-proclaimed food nerd, with a degree in Food and Culinary Science, she shares her recipes and experiments. Her and her husband call Central Arkansas home for now. You can find her at home making the kitchen a mess, trying to cross stitch, or playing with their dog and cat. Keep up with her over on Twitter, and Married and Hungry’s Facebook page.
Some really great ideas Renee. Thanks for sharing.
Before our kiddos were grown, we spent dinner time together almost every night. I agree, it does build memories, to the point that even my sons wanted my recipes when they left home.
Now that it’s just the two of us, we enjoy the moments when we both are finally home, by sitting in our recliners by the fire and sharing how our day went.
With the children, we began a tradition of Friday night being open night. If we were not entertaining company, we all piled on or around the master bed and watched great movies. They literally had dialogues from some of the best memorized because they played them over and over to take dictation to have a script. As for private family jokes, they inserted favorite lines from old movies into our everyday conversation, all the time. It was a laughing riot, sometimes, around here.
Now days, with them all gone, we often work together, him on the desktop and me on the laptop. Or we work crosswords together. Or we revert tot he movies, again, often on Fridays, because…
About a year ago, I started being intentional about going to my mom’s on Friday evenings, even though at first I didn’t care for her TV shows. Now that I’ve gotten used to the routine, I actually enjoy watching TV from 8-10 and miss those darned shows when something comes up and we can’t make it!
We moved to Batesville six years ago to be closer to Mom, so I figured I’d better start acting like I meant business. Even when I’m dog tired (as I tend to be at the end of a long workweek), Bruce and I go to Mom’s for those two hours of TV (and Bruce always raids her M&Ms jar).
Our other favorite thing is to visit Mom on Saturdays during baseball and football season. Sometimes, when the seasons overlap, we have to flip back and forth between the Cardinals, the Hogs and the Fighting Irish! For nourishment, we have my Spicy Turkey Chili or order takeout from Mazzio’s (half pepperoni, half beef and mushroom). And M&Ms, of course.
I didn’t think of it as making memories, but, by golly, that’s what we’ve been doing! I wouldn’t trade those times for anything.