What to do with the time off?

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What's your plan for your time off? Do you have one? 

I was talking to my boss a little bit yesterday asking what they plan to do over the holiday break and he mentioned that he and his wife come up with a plan for every day they are off with the kids. So that they have something already planned ahead of time. I don't know if they totally stick to it, but at least they have something to fall back on if nothing else comes up. The idea resonated with me. I've had many years where we kind of float through the holiday time off which isn't bad, but sometimes it feels like every day is a little more of the same.

So what will we do this year during the break? I have 12 days off including the weekends until I go back to the office. 12 days. That's a lot of time. It's an opportunity to lead my family or just sit back and be lazy. The only somewhat set plans are a family Christmas with my parents and my wife's parents. That's it.

There's a full 10 days with no plans. So what are some things we could do as a family?

  • Have a game day/night
  • Watch some old movies, maybe even old home movies
  • Go for a drive in the country see some Christmas lights
  • Make a meal as a family
  • Have a slumber party in the basement
  • Make Christmas cookies or a gingerbread house
  • Write notes to people
  • Read a book
  • Go out and grab a coffee one morning, make hot chocolate for the kids
  • Come up with a craft activity
  • Go through photos and clean up all those pictures
  • Do some clean up going through stuff in the basement
  • Sing some songs together
  • Record a video together to share with others
  • Bundle up and go for a walk on some trails... maybe on the trail we found in Morton this summer
  • Give my wife a back rub every day during the time off (I know this would be a highlight of hers)
  • Stop by the library and get some books/movies, think ahead and reserve some

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