Fitting family time in to our hyper-speed modern lives is no easy task. Looking out from within the whirlwind of work deadlines and kids’ school and extra-curricular demands during the year, it seems that if we can just hang on until year-end, that the holiday season will bring with it a chance to properly reconnect with our loved ones, to turn all our focus towards them for once.
Yet here we are, in December already, and while school and work stresses are winding down, the holiday season stresses are cranking up: the planning of family get-togethers and all the venue-decor-food concerns, the tedious and frazzling experience of gift-shopping, the impossible attempt to balance our shrinking budgets. How do we bring our families closer together during that precious little family time we have? Here are some tips:
Keep your schedule very loose.
Choose one or two holiday events you’d like to attend, plan a picnic and a beach day, but make sure you have days in between where nothing much is happening… Day where you can lounge around with your loved ones, haul out a board game, spend hours drawing with your 4 year old, or let your 10 year old school you on his favourite video game. Put that smartphone aside and embrace being right there in the moment with the most important people in your life - that is how we really see each other, that is how we reconnect.
Take a minimalistic approach to decor.
A festive-looking space is fun, but there’s no need for a new theme each year, or for anyone to pour countless hours and too many Rands into decor that takes forever to set up and is discarded soon afterwards. It should form a backdrop to the really important stuff of connecting with our loved ones, and less of the former allows more time for the latter. Pool items that family members already have at hand in creating a hassle-free festive atmosphere.
The same applies to gifting.
Shift the focus from exchanging expensive or plentiful gifts to small, more meaningful gifts that have a lighter footprint. This means less time spent milling through crowded malls, less financial stress, and more time to spend together. Plus, minimalism is on trend, and you may find many family members keen to try a more environmentally-friendly approach.
Write each family member a card of their own,
a personal holiday wish and thank you note for the unique role each plays in your life. So very meaningful to the person on the receiving end, it is also a wonderful excuse to sit back and reflect on the things you appreciate about each family member.
Encourage shared meal preparation.
Have the amateur chefs in the family make their favourite things with many helping hands. Invite the kids into the kitchen too; let them take pride in contributing to family meals, showing them that preparing a meal together is as special a time as eating it. And once you’re at the table, make the most of that time together – the dishes can wait!
Be kind.
Think of this holiday period as a chance to fill your family’s tanks with all of the love and good vibes they need to power through the next year, so that when you hit the chaos and everyone is in too much of a hurry to properly touch base, not one of you doubts the support of your biggest fans.
Date Published: 17 December 2015
