Winter Fun For The Family

In all the hustle and bustle of the holiday preparations, it can be hard to slow life down to actually enjoy Christmas. As busy moms, we get sucked into trying to create the perfect Christmas and we often lose sight at what matters most. Making time in the schedule to add winter fun for the family is one of the best ways to slow life down and simplify Christmas.

This morning I found myself talking with my daughter about her stress levels. We often forget how overwhelming teens can feel during this time of year. It’s not just the back-to-school time that is overwhelming.

Her mind had been whirling with “all the things” she couldn’t forget on her busy to-do list. Her issue was not planning out her to-do list into manageable time blocks and not allowing herself some fun time.

Sound familiar for us Moms?

Yep, we are teaching our kids to constantly stay busy too. This was one reason, I started taking better care of myself and planning my time to include self-care and fun time with the family.

One of the best ways to slow life down and enjoy the Christmas season is to make time for some winter fun for the family. For many in Canada, this means tobogganing, ice skating, skiing or snowboarding. It may be cold outside but it can be a long winter if you keep yourself indoors and don’t find ways to enjoy nature.

When I was little, I remember tobogganing and skating. We lived in the prairies so downhill skiing wasn’t really available and my parents didn’t cross-country ski. They did own a snowmobile though and would tie an old inner tube from a tractor tire (or an old hood from a truck) to the back. We’d spend the day ripping around fields trying to stay on the tube, while our Dad would try and dump us in snow banks.

When our own kids were little we would use the tobogganing hills in our neighborhood or go ice skating at the local water park that the community iced. The kids loved it and it burned off their energy from being stuck indoors, and our own stress from work.

Now that we live in a new city and a new neighborhood, I had to find some new ideas and new places we could go to add some fun into our December madness. I found this great website that listed events and fun family activities in cities across Canada: Family Fun Canada.

In there I was able to find recommended tobogganing hills and outdoor skating fun for my own city. My community is building a new skating rink, but while that is being finished we can possibly go to some other locations.

I’ll be checking the Family Fun Canada website for more ideas to add some winter fun for the family into our schedule. If you are in Canada, I recommend you check out their website and see what is going on in and around you. For more hints on how to Simplify Christmas, download the FREE guide by filling out the form below.

May your Christmas season be filled with family and fun! Here’s to simplifying Christmas this year!