This picture illustrates Christmas fun for me. This is my family on Christmas Eve. My children, their cousins, my sister, brother, and brother-in-law in the water. There were 30 of us together for Christmas in Texas and about half (and all the kids over 5) decided to get into the pool and hot tub despite the snowy weather. The water was heated, but not too terribly much because the previous day it had been 75 degrees and the heater hadn't been on.
As a mom, this is also how I love to parent. Our kids were dying to swim in my sister's pool. We weren't at all sure it was a good idea, especially when we lost electricity for an hour and the pool heater stopped heating. But the water warmed to a reasonable temperature and we let them all go. Thank goodness a few adults were willing to get wet with them (not me this time)!
How many years from now do you think they'll remember and talk about this Christmas Eve? It was definitely not traditional, but my sister has already moved out of this house with the pool, so we knew getting in the pool wouldn't be an option again.
Being together as family is about building relationships and creating memories. The relationship part my kids have to do on their own, but I can help create some fun memories. It doesn't always mean anything way out there, but it does mean looking for opportunities for things different from the normal routine.
There are a few family memories we still talk about. What does your family remember when you get together?
2 comments:
well, Aaron is only 4 (not 5) and he came out with me to the pool too (though he held on to me for dear life most of the time :) fun memories :)
Right, but David didn't go out to the pool and he's five. I didn't say that the kids under 5 didn't go, but that was the best way to characterize which kids chose to go out to the pool.
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