As I sit nibbling on spritz cookies and sipping hot chocolate, I realize it’s here. Christmas break. Eleven days of no rushing for the school bus, sorting out homework, researching data on the Internet and gathering project materials for an Egyptian Sphinx… (Don’t ask.). What in the world will we do? I know what this mom would like to do—vacation on a beach in Florida, but that isn’t likely so I think we better just plan ahead and have a few ideas to avoid the
boredom” of Christmas vacation.
My mom solved this easily: Say you’re bored one more time and you get to clean something. We learned very quickly to find something (anything) to do. Thank goodness I liked to read and had stacks of books to keep me busy. For my kids I have come up with some projects that I think might be fun and in the end save my sanity.
Homemade thank you cards
Even better if you can print pictures of the kids with the gifts and have them add them to the cards. (Hopefully they are not a full-size pink bunny suits!) This should keep the kids at the table with scissors, markers, glue sticks and glitter for a full 15 minutes (20 if they have any artistic talent and an eye for color).
Decorate an outdoor tree for
the birds
Use oranges covered with cloves, popcorn strings, peanut butter-covered pine cones dipped in bird seed and fresh apple slices hung with string. The birds will “flock” to this project so try to pick a tree you can see close to a window. Education-minded moms may want to turn this into an ornithology lesson as well and see who can identify all the types of birds attracted to the tree. Our plan is to keep the cats from enjoying a snack as well.
Try a new recipe!
I will get out the cookbooks and let the kids make something they have never made before. Let it be complicated and futsy (my word meaning: something that takes a lot of time and patience…). I learned how to make jelly roll cakes from the Betty Crocker cookbook when I was about 11 and it was a blast! It has been years since I rolled a cake but we will try it again this Christmas break.
Make a Christmas card
scrapbook
Gather all your cards and have the kids arrange them in a book. Use your family card to decorate the cover and be sure to include the address labels and stamps from the envelopes. The stamps are so fun to keep as they bring out new stamps every year. Our family has been making these memory books since 2001 and we really enjoy getting them out at Christmas and looking them over year after year. Hint: I also add wedding invitations, birth announcements and funeral cards to the book throughout the year to help remember when it’s time to write out our cards.
Build a fort
Inside or outside a winter fort is a must. Theinside fort we call our Harry Potter room as it’s the storage space under the stairs. I have actually watched an entire DVD uninterrupted in the Harry Potter room as no one even thought to look for me there!
Outside forts in Minnesota have to be made of snow. Think Igloo or snow cave. I know some moms worry about children being buried under piles of snow but I don’t consider this a serious threat unless you allow them to build the fort close to the path of a snowplow. Thebest
times we ever had as kids were in a snow fort. However, do not try to heat your snow fort. I know the Eskimos do it and the whole fire/snow idea still baffles me. If you’re cold you’re better off heading back to the house to enjoy some hot chocolate and spritz cookies.
Taste of Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on an alpaca farm in South Haven, MN with her husband, Michael,
and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the North Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne
Anderson of Schroeder. She enjoys writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of home-style recipes.
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