Then, Husband and I talked. This has been the best Winter Break in long time. Monster thinks it's been the best break ever. Husband thinks it's probably pretty darn close to the best break ever. (I still hold that 2013 break was the best ever, but this one was really good.) Anyway...we decided we need to bring Winter Break into our every day lives. It had nothing to do with things that we were doing, but all about things we were feeling. Everyone was happy. Everyone liked each other. Everyone helped each other.
A few days after we got home, the bickering started. Not just with the kids, but with all of us. Husband and I decided this was unacceptable, especially coming off such a great time. Together, as a family, we all sat down and created a mission statement. Everyone thought of things that they believe this family is about. After doing it individually, we all came together to discuss. It was interesting because we all came up with pretty much the same ideas. Our family mission statment is this:
~ Enjoy every day together, having fun and being together as much as possible
~Always treat each other and others with respect and kindness, even people we don't like
~Always be there and help each other and others in need
~Always keep each other, family, and friends safe
I think it's a pretty good mission statement. It sums up how our family feels we should act. This weekend, we're going to come up with family goals. Our family probably spends more time together than a lot of family's, but togetherness is important to us. So, we are going to work on it. We're going to work on all being happier together and meeting each other's needs. That's going to mean slowing down. That's going to mean that not everything gets checked off a list. And it will be OK. It will be OK because we're doing these things to make us better family members and better people.