What's on your holiday fun list?

Plan now to make the holidays feel festive but not overwhelming

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is to make your holiday fun list this week.
This is a great time to think about any festivities
you would like to experience between now and the new year.
By making a list now, you will make a plan

(00:32):
for the things you want to do, and, just as important,
know what doesn't really matter as much during what is
often a busy season.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
I love the holidays. I love the festivities. Every year
I make a list of the things I want to
experience and that my family wants to experience. I don't
want to get to January and realize that we didn't
do something that we would have genuinely looked forward to.
Of course, after thirteen Christmases in the same location, I

(01:07):
have found a lot of different activities and locations that
are fun to visit. We know of about half a
dozen holiday train exhibits. There are tons of Christmas shows
and concerts and holiday light displays too. We have sampled
three different Breakfast with Santa options.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
The first few.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Years, I made a holiday fund list to make sure
we were making holiday memories. The past year or two
I've made a list mostly to winnow things down. What
do my kids actually care about doing? What do they
not care quite so much about? When something makes it
on the list, I will do my best to make
it happen. I bought Breakfast with Santa tickets for the

(01:52):
good one, the one my daughter really wants us to
go to back in October or this. It's a lot
of bother to take seven people to the Roquettes in
New York City. But the Christmas Spectacular is indeed spectacular.
People said they wanted to go, so we will. But
not all of the train displays are quite as exciting.

(02:15):
Not all of the holiday light displays are worth driving
an hour for. If we've got a lot going on,
which we will with everyone's holiday concerts and such. The
upside of making a holiday fun list is that I
don't feel bad about not going to a particular light display.
We have looked at all the things we would do,

(02:37):
and we have said, given that there are only three
weekends in December before Christmas, that this didn't make the
top dozen or so it is okay to let it
go if you've got a lot of holiday options. I
think making a holiday fun list can help you feel
more organized. You are not considering all the things in

(02:58):
the world every time time you're looking for something to
do on the weekend. You spend some time now in
mid November thinking about what you have liked over the
past few years and what your family enjoyed, and you
choose what you enjoy most. You can certainly do additional
stuff as it comes up, if it makes sense, or

(03:19):
if you get some great new opportunity, but the good
stuff you know will happen. So take some time this
weekend to make a holiday fun list. Talk to the
people in your life that you spend time with and
ask what they most enjoyed over the past few holiday seasons.
What was special, what was fun? What would they like

(03:42):
to see repeated? You might start creating a rough plan
for executing on this list. Start with scheduling the things
that only happen at a certain time. The Christmas Eve
service only happens on December twenty fourth. Our particular breakfast
was Santa is only offered one time, so we have

(04:03):
to build around that. But the Rockets put on multiple
shows a day through the holiday season. We will need
to buy tickets and plan to go to New York
but we have lots of options. And then there are
the things that can be more flexible, like baking cookies
that could happen during any open stretch of two hours

(04:25):
or so. But it is good to know that you
want to do it so you can slot it in.
If you make a holiday fun list this week, I
would love to hear what's on it. You can let
me know at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. In
the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's

(04:48):
to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening
to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.

(05:12):
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
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