How many times have a few weeks of school vacation or holidays passed by and then you realized you never had any actual “family time”?
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My kids are going back to school after being off for the last few weeks for a slew of holidays (see Sukkot-Chag Sameach!), however due to varying circumstances, we didn’t actually spend any “family time” together.
But There Was So Much Time
Yes, the kids were all home. Yes, the whole family was [mostly] under the same roof. But, still…
These holidays are a pretty busy time in an Orthodox Home. A lot of time spent in the synagogue. And a lot of time spent cooking and preparing. There’s also a lot of time eating those meals. Picture 24-28 Thanksgiving type 5-course meals in less than a month–much of which is prepared ahead of time.
Then, there’s all the other holiday preparations: building a Sukkah, selecting the lulav and etrog, preparing for the Day of Judgement, and so much more.
We did spend a lot of time together. But, it was kind of like toddler in parallel play. We didn’t actually spend time together. Some were cooking, some were cleaning, some were building, some were playing, and some were…I’m still trying to figure it out!
We had guests or we were guests for several of the meals. Much time was spent preparing or taking care of the synagogue.
But There Were Two Days
There were two full days that we could have done something as a family. Many of our friends and neighbors did do something on the “chol hamoed” days. We even actually had plans. But, alas, we still didn’t have our family time together.
On the first of those days, one of the kids stayed home sick. And on the second, my husband had to fly cross-country for a funeral.
So What Did We Do?
We realized that we hadn’t spent any quality time together just us and all of us. So, even though there were a million things to do today, we planned a family day. We feel very strongly that we have to take advantage of these pockets of time that become fewer and fewer as the kids get older.
7 Inspiring Benefits of Family Travel Experiences
It wasn’t anything major. But everyone was excited and looking forward to go bowling. (The kids had actually planned a bowling day, but that was the day my husband ended up out of town.) Yes, they do make toddler size bowling shoes. And, yes, the two-year old actually won!
Then we went for pizza and to the grocery store. We had a great time and made some new family memories before we get [back] into a routine and life gets busy again.
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You don’t have to do anything big and major to have quality time with your family. What are some of your favorite ideas? I’d love to hear about them.
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