We just wrapped another holiday season. No matter our cultural beliefs, most of us spent that time going from one party to the next, shopping till we were out of money, and/or stretching ourselves so thin we barely found time to enjoy a soak in the tub. Is the hustle and bustle of the holiday season worth your peace of mind? It seems most of us think it is.
While I, too, submit to the never-ending needs of my children and spend too much time researching the perfect gifts, this year, I ask myself, “What do we all really need?” I found that answer at the bottom of a glass of wine while talking to my husband. We agreed we needed to find our Zen while teaching our children the value of things money can’t buy.
My husband and I both travel for work. We absolutely love what we do. We are grateful our work trips can often land us in the same locations, allowing time to connect without kids throughout a trip. Hashtag grateful couldn’t even come close to describing how excited we are when our business trips align. However, this does come at the expense of being away from the kids (both two and four-legged) during awkward times, such as the holidays.
Our most recent trip to Boson, MA, landed us five kid-free days just before the chaos of the season hit. We intentionally got our shopping done early to accommodate the time away. While sitting at dinner, enjoying a fabulous margarita at The Painted Burro, it dawned on us that we truly needed to teach our children how to find their Zen even when life is naturally a little on the loose.
We put our heads together and decided the gift of adventure was worth more than any toy they would play with for five minutes or make-up kit our daughter might use for a few days and be done with. In a blended family, finding something we would all enjoy can be challenging. Still, we were absolutely up for the challenge.
Since we had already purchased several smaller gifts that we didn’t want to store until the next gift-giving reason, we knew this moment of Zen had to come at an affordable price. While we are fortunate to live in a magical part of the world only forty-five minutes from Glacier National Park, we are limited when trying to fit in everyone’s particular taste of enjoyment into one gift-giving moment.
While I stirred my margarita, it dawned on me every single kid in our family enjoys sledding, smores by the fire, and hot cocoa. While it might seem small to many, we knew our children would much rather have a day of being just kids while watching their parents laugh and attempt to walk back up the hill than they would be unwrapping another predictable gift.
This day will forever go down as a new tradition for our family of seven. We will remember to embrace making memories outside of Amazon boxes. We will connect and come together through laughter and maybe even some of those happy tears that fall when we barely have the words to describe how grateful we are.
So, while we sit down to plan the year ahead, I’d love to understand how differently you think the next holiday season can be for you and your family. May you find time for connection, not just gift-giving.
This was written by our contributing writer, Tiffani Morgan.
Leave a Reply