Holiday Bucket List

Tis the season for being busy. This year I’m making a holiday bucket list so I don’t wake up on New Year’s Day wondering what happened. Check it out and add some of your own.

Take Family Pictures
I love getting a new family picture every year to document the changes, mostly my daughter’s growth. The issue is that all those lovely snaps in our coordinated outfits can be very expensive. The good news is that many local photographers offer discounted mini sessions around the holidays. Whether you want to pose with pumpkins in November or model with mistletoe in December, there are plenty of options. 

If you don’t have the time or money even for a mini session, get creative! I have a friend who documents her family each December with a quick photo session in a Christmas tree lot. The results are always stunning. Seek out ready-made displays like the one at the center of Destin Commons. With the right angles and skillful cropping, you can even get gorgeous pics in the holiday section of Michael’s or Hobby Lobby. 

Make Time to Give Back
One of my favorite family activities is volunteering, and no one is too young to lend a hand. Kids are welcome at Crop Drop on November 23 at Destin United Methodist Church where volunteers sort more than 80,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables for distribution to families in need. My seven-year-old daughter, Vivian, and her Girl Scout troop do this every year and love it. If you want to volunteer without the kids, check out Harbor Docks on Thanksgiving. This is the twenty-fifth year the Destin institution has served up a free feast. Volunteers are always needed to run food to hungry guests.

Another fun way to spread cheer during the holidays is to share your smile and a song. Vivi and I go Christmas caroling with members of our church to Destin Health and Rehabilitation Center. We go from room to room, making a joyful noise and handing out Christmas ornaments. 

Observe Family Traditions
Our family practices many holiday traditions that are, well, pretty traditional. We watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in the morning then get together and eat a big Thanksgiving feast, only after going around the table and saying what we are thankful for.  In recent years, we started attending a Christmas Eve candlelight service at church. This peaceful practice prepares our hearts and sets the tone for remembering the true reason for the holiday. 

If you have kids who are interested in keeping an eye on Santa, be sure to dial NORAD. Yes, I am talking about the North American Aerospace Defense Command. 364 days a year the folks at NORAD are watching the skies to detect threats to the U.S. and Canada; but on Christmas Eve every year since 1955, it’s all about tracking the big guy in his sleigh. Kids can call in for free to find out where Santa is or follow @noradsanta on social media for updates. 

After church, the NORAD call, dinner, and presents, there’s only one thing to do before tucking Vivi in for the night. She climbs into Uncle Joe’s lap as he reads “Twas the Night Before Christmas” to her. This one always hits me right in the feels. Vivi was born in May, and my brother lived on the other side of the country. Her first Christmas was the first time he got to meet her. This became their special time together, and they both love it. Joe loves kids and reading, and Vivi loves Uncle Joe. 

Carve Out Some Quiet Time
It’s difficult to find time to be still amidst the hustle and bustle of the holidays. I like to walk outside by myself at night on Christmas Eve or Christmas and find the brightest star in the ski. I suppose I’ve bought into the Christmas vibes of all those Hallmark movies, but I find this practice especially fulfilling when it happens to be a crisp, clear evening. If it’s rainy, sweltering, or otherwise not conducive for yuletide cheer outside, I enjoy a few minutes zoning out staring at the lights on the Christmas tree after everyone else has gone to bed. These quiet moments help me settle and reflect on the miracle that is Christmas. Even if you don’t celebrate this particular holiday, taking the time to just be with yourself and identify what you are grateful for is a healthy practice.

I wish all of you a very happy holiday season. If you see me out at the craft store snapping selfies with a reindeer, just pretend it’s normal. I’m working on my Christmas cards. 

Avoid the Summer Slide

By Laura Lucy

We are smack-dab in the middle of a long, hot summer. The kids are whining about being bored, and parents are counting down until we can send our precious little angels back to school. As tempting as it is to plop the kids in front of the television until the first day of school, we need to keep their minds and bodies active to avoid the dreaded summer brain drain. Brain drain, also known as the summer slide, happens when children forget much of what they learned during the school year over the summer break.

According to the National Summer Learning Association (NSLA) at Johns Hopkins University, most students lose two months of math skills over the summer. Low-income children can fall behind up to three months on reading skills. This means teachers spend the first month of school reteaching lessons, and students risk falling further and further behind each summer. Some children also gain weight over the summer without the discipline of daily school and physical education.

This information is alarming, but don’t let it ruin your summer. Combating brain drain is easier than you think. You don’t have to get a tutor or enroll your children in summer school. There are plenty of fun ways to keep their brains active until the teachers tag back in.

Lean on the Library

There is so much more to do at the library than check out books – though we do plenty of that too. We have fantastic libraries across the Emerald Coast with fun and educational activities happening almost every day throughout the summer. On a recent trip to Destin Library, my six-year-old daughter, Vivi, checked out books she can read on her own and chapter books for us to read together, played a coding game for kids, signed up to attend a Pete the Cat extravaganza, and stumbled upon a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) workshop for kids. She loved it and was even more excited when they told her she can come back next week and build a robot. I highly encourage you to check out the library closest to you.

Just Keep Swimming, Swimming, Swimming

With the Gulf, bays, bayous, lakes, pools and waterparks, we are literally surrounded by water. Learning to swim is not just fun for local kids, it’s necessary. The good news is swimming is healthy for the mind as well as the body. A study of children in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand by the Griffith Institute showed that children who started swim lessons earlier had better visual motor skills in addition to gains in language, math and writing. We kicked the summer off with a fast track class at Emerald Coast Scuba in early June. This was Vivi’s fourth summer with Coach Mary and her crew. She already swims like a fish (or mermaid if you ask her), but this summer she improved her freestyle form, learned to do the butterfly and is spending the rest of this summer practicing her dives in Mammi and Papa’s pool.  

Mini Golf = Maxi Learning

You can find a way to make any fun outing an educational experience. Take miniature golf as an example. Younger children will naturally learn deductive reasoning as they play the course – if I hit my ball in this hole versus that hole, what happens? You can be a bit more explicit with older kids, talking about the angles and physics involved in the sport. This works for billiards too. Keep it light and fun so you’re not forcing the educational component. If they realize you are trying to teach them, they might tune out. Think of it like blending green vegetables into spaghetti sauce – what they don’t know could help them.

Technology Isn’t Evil

The kids likely want to spend every waking moment with a screen in their faces. Zoning out to endless YouTube videos isn’t the only way to utilize these devices. There are plenty of educational apps out there, both free and pay. ABCmouse is a fun learning app for pre-school and elementary school children. Even video games aren’t all bad. Playing games can teach kids how to be good winners and losers, problem-solving skills and creativity. Chances are they are better at the games than you are. Let them teach you how to play the game and explain how it works. This is a great brain-building exercise for them and a wonderful way to improve the parent-child bond.

Our favorite discovery this summer is the Art for Kids Hub channel on YouTube. This channel has more than 1,200 videos with easy step-by-step instructions on how to draw everything from animals and ice cream to Hatchimals and LOL Dolls. Trust me, your kids will sit peacefully for large chunks of time while following along with these videos. You will be shocked by how quickly they will create some pretty awesome drawings while using both sides of their brains.

Chill

The most important thing to remember is that schools give kids a summer break for a reason. They need time to rest, relax and recharge. Let them have that time without stress, without pushing them too hard. I hope these tips will help you find sneaky fun ways to incorporate learning into your summer fun. Vivi and I will see you at Big Kahuna’s. We’ll be the ones talking about velocity as we fly down the Tiki River Run.