December always feels like a busy time of year and very focused on the kids. I know my to-do list is full of things to do with my daughter: bake cookies, decorate the tree, wrap her presents, etc. The holiday season is a magical time and enjoying it through a child’s eyes is something I will always cherish, but I also try to remember the importance of enjoying this time with my husband as well.
It’s important to continue the date night and the quality time and continue to nurture the relationship you have with your spouse. The holiday season provides some great date night opportunities that can help give you both time to slow down, take a break from the busy to-do list and just enjoy one another.
Look at Christmas Lights
While I love driving around with my daughter to look at lights and hear her “ooh” and “ahh” from the back seat, I also love the idea of lining up a sitter for date night and after a grown-up dinner out, taking the long way home, driving through some neighborhoods and enjoying the lights together. Christmas lights are romantic and beautiful and can definitely be enjoyed by kids and adults.
Bake Something Together
Save the Santa and reindeer-shaped cookies covered in too many sprinkles for your kids. Decorating cookies with kids is definitely a fun tradition to create with them, but you can also create fun traditions baking with your spouse. This is a great way to have a low-cost at-home date night after the kids go to bed or on a weekend during nap time. Look for a sophisticated dessert that you both might like, something decadent that the kids won’t enjoy.
Go Ice Skating
Ice skating is definitely romantic (my husband really thinks so) and it might make a great date night event for you and your partner. Although you won’t find me on the ice (let’s be honest, a trip to the ER would definitely follow, which somehow doesn’t feel as romantic), I think this is a great option for some couples who aren’t quite as clumsy and accident-prone as myself. My husband’s vision of holding hands, spinning me around and slowly gliding on the ice together sounds really great, and hopefully some other couples can recreate it for him to live vicariously because he definitely wishes ice skating was on our date list (sorry)!
As the calendar fills up with holiday shopping and get-togethers and creating holiday memories for your kids, remember to pencil in some date nights and continue to date your spouse during this magical time of year.
