'Tis the Season!

December can be such a busy and stressful month for everyone with the holidays (Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Solstice, New Year’s Eve, etc.), the decorating, shopping, wrapping, crafting, baking, cooking, hosting parties, and gatherings of neighbors, co-workers, and friends.

STOP - take a step back, and a deep breath. Are you forgetting something?

Have you lost sight of what’s important? FAMILY!

No matter what holiday you celebrate or activities you partake, we should all remember that one of the most important things we can do is spend quality time with family (whatever that may mean for you).

Here are a dozen different activities to do at low or no cost with your family:

An afternoon of ice skating ending with some hot cocoa with marshmallows.
Have a snow ball fight, build a snow man, or make snow angels (weather permitting!).
A movie and popcorn at home.
Take an evening walk around the neighborhood looking at all the beautiful lights.
Have a game night.
Bake some cookies together and share with others.
Visit with a neighbor that you know is all alone.
Take a walk in a local park.
Have a scavenger hunt - make a list of 10 things to be found (at home, in a park, wherever you chose to have the hunt), whoever finds all the items first gets to pick dinner that night!
Camp out in the living room – move the furniture back, gather the sleeping bags and blankets and set up camp in the middle of the room. Turn out the lights, light the candles, shut off the TV, no electronics allowed tonight! Talk, tell jokes, tell stories, and make some memories.
Cook dinner together.
Volunteer as a family (there are lots of places to volunteer - nursing homes, soup kitchens, food banks, etc.).

Hopefully at the end of the month, these are the fun things you’ll remember, not the stress, lack of sleep or the rushing around.

Happy Holidays to you and your family.

“Family is not an important thing, it’s everything.” Michael J. Fox

“Love your family. Spend time, be kind & serve one another. Make no room for regrets. Tomorrow is not promised & today is short.” Anonymous

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Monthly Messages are brought to you by the Tompkins County Youth Services Department, a proud partner of The Community Coalition for Healthy Youth.

If you have further questions or comments about this message or would like information on how to become involved with the Community Coalition for Healthy Youth, please email ahendrix@tompkins-co.org

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For more information on-line, go to Links – Tips for Families, Parents and Youth Workers