Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to make a holiday fun list. By thinking
Speaker 1: through what you like most about the holidays and asking
Speaker 1: your loved ones too, you can make more memories and
Speaker 1: spend your time well. So we do a lot of
Speaker 1: Christmas celebrating in my house. Every year, I make what
Speaker 1: I call a holiday fun list. This is a list
Speaker 1: of the things I want to do before early January
Speaker 1: to make the holidays feel fun and memorable. This often
Speaker 1: involves seeing the Nutcracker, singing in a Christmas choir concert,
Speaker 1: watching the kids and the Christmas pageant, buying new family pajamas,
Speaker 1: doing a Christmas lego set with the older kids, and
Speaker 1: so forth. We have tried a lot of different things
Speaker 1: over the years, different light displays, holiday train shows, and
Speaker 1: so forth. It is hard to know exactly what is best,
Speaker 1: so I've also started asking the kids what they like.
Speaker 1: My daughter and I made a list to gather the
Speaker 1: other night, and now I know that she wants to
Speaker 1: go ice skating, and she wants to do a baking extravaganza.
Speaker 1: She also wants to visit Dutch Wonderland to see the
Speaker 1: lights and go on rides there. Now I would not
Speaker 1: have pegged that as a top pick, but now I know.
Speaker 1: The point is to really think about what would feel
Speaker 1: most festive. Because during the holidays there are lots of options.
Speaker 1: It can be easy to do whatever is right in
Speaker 1: front of us. Or else we don't make plans and
Speaker 1: then don't get to go to that holiday train show
Speaker 1: because it's sold out. We forget what's going on and
Speaker 1: realize we really would have liked to go see the Roquettes,
Speaker 1: but it's not going to be possible to build in
Speaker 1: a New York City trip now. Or you go to
Speaker 1: an ice skating show because you think that's what your
Speaker 1: kids want to do and it turns out they don't,
Speaker 1: and then they complain that they never got to have
Speaker 1: breakfast with Santa. I mean, the truth is people might
Speaker 1: complain anyway. But the upside of a holiday fun list
Speaker 1: is it that it makes everything feel more intentional. You
Speaker 1: can say no to stuff that is not on the
Speaker 1: list and still feel like you will have a full
Speaker 1: holiday season. You can make arrangements to do things that
Speaker 1: are on the list, knowing that the family has identified them.
Speaker 1: As mattering, you decide it is worth fitting in that
Speaker 1: amusement park trip the visit to see Santa on the
Speaker 1: same weekend because they both are on the list. You'll
Speaker 1: have time to relax in January. You can also budget
Speaker 1: more strategically if you know what people are excited about.
Speaker 1: Maybe you do pay for the breakfast with Santa tickets,
Speaker 1: but you don't buy tickets for some pricey train show
Speaker 1: since it turns out that no one cares about it.
Speaker 1: If you still want to go see trains, he finds
Speaker 1: something cheap or free. So this weekend, sit down with
Speaker 1: the people you will be spending the holidays with and
Speaker 1: see what they would like to do, what would make
Speaker 1: everyone feel festive. You can brainstorm a long list and
Speaker 1: then narrow it down, or maybe you construct a few
Speaker 1: anchor activities and then let everyone add an additional one
Speaker 1: or two. But I find that making a holiday fun
Speaker 1: list always puts me in something of a celebratory mood.
Speaker 1: I have a plan for the holidays. It makes me
Speaker 1: feel like they will be memorable, and honestly, that is
Speaker 1: the way the holidays should be. In the meantime, this
Speaker 1: is Laura, Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach
Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,
Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.