By: Dallin Rahlf 

You know what song gets me the most hyped for this holiday season? “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”. Man, that song is DOPE. This is the only version of the song you’ll ever need, by the way. Why is it that I love it so much? I think it’s because the lyrics and overall joy and festiveness from the tune get me excited about what’s to come in December. It talks about having fun, meeting up with buddies, making memories together, spending time inside and outside, enjoying treats, spending time with love ones. Wow. One song truly can have it all. 

Maybe I’m simply a sucker for the holidays, but I adore seeing the stores lit up in their lights, displaying fun toys and candies. I love hearing the thousands of Christmas songs and covers and discovering some new stuff to listen to. Most of all, I love being outside, even though it’s cold! The cold doesn’t need to be your enemy this year. In fact, I wrote some tips on how to prepare for and enjoy the colder part of the year. Here’s some things that you are your loved ones should participate in this year, in and out of the house

Sledding

If it’s snowing outside, it’s like, a law to go sledding! Rushing up the hill, getting super out of breath, lying down for a couple minutes to catch your breath, then rush down at the speed of light, wind brushing quickly past your cheeks as slow flies past your face. Pro tip: when sledding, be sure to put your little ones in front of you. If you hit any big snow patches or catch some fresh powder, they’ll be the ones to take the snow first. And they usually love it! I’ve tested this theory on my nieces and nephews many times. Most of them thought it was great. Reagan did not. But now I know! 

Sledding is debatably the best thing you can have your kids to. They’ll get extremely tired playing in the snow, creating some great memories, and having a blast, all in one. There was something special about being a kid and sledding and then watching mom and dad come sledding as well. Take your lunch break with them and make their dreams come true! 

Baking Contest 

Have you caught Sugar Rush Christmas yet? A baking contest is a great opportunity to have your kids bake you stuff and you eat most of it. It’s a win-win. All you have to do is say you’re the judge and that you have to “be sure to have ample samples from what everyone makes.” No one will be the wiser. 

There’s many directions you can go with a baking contest. If you want to be sure that every contestant wins something, be sure to have a ton of categories. Best tasting, best presentation, most creative, comeback dessert of the year, etc. You can make up whatever and plan ahead if you need to. Or, have a winner-takes-all and let that child have bragging rights for a whole year. It will only fuel the competitiveness in the other children, making them try even harder next year to take the throne, in which YOU benefit greatly by having an army of professional dessert bakers in your kitchen. 

Baking contests need not be limited to baking, nor contests. When’s the last time you threw together a gingerbread house? Gingerbread tastes terrible, but it’s fun to work with. I’m sorry if I offended you with the whole gingerbread thing, but… does anyone actually like the taste? I’ve never met a single person who would eat it if it were in front of them. Besides insulting gingerbread and the taste thereof, you could go wild and make some candy canes or chocolate from scratch. That would be great! 

Hot Chocolate Contest 

Speaking of contests, you can do a hot chocolate contest as well! This one is a little less work for a still great payoff. You can make a lot and have each contestant try some of each blindfolded, as to avoid a bias. The powder hot chocolate with hot water and a couple marshmallows mad by your 4-year-old may just end up winning! 

Christmas Light Hunting 

This is my one of my wife’s favorite traditions to do every December. When the month gets aged a little, and if you’re lucky enough to have a light snowfall, pack everyone in the car and start roaming around your neighborhood or other neighborhoods to see some Christmas lights. This is one of those “don’t stare for too long” things, cause you don’t want to be stopping in front of houses staring intently for too long. It might make some folk nervous. Smile and wave, keep the car in drive, and cruise on by. 

Some towns will randomly have an awesome Christmas light show where they set up a maze of Christmas lights to drive through in your car. It’s awesome, and sadly, as far as I know, very random. If you ever see one, take note and be sure to bring your whole family next time you drive by! 

We hope you are experiencing an awesome start to the holiday season!