A Budget Family Night in Pink

Being a member of a fairly good-sized family, I can say that I often pity those without, but honestly there are days when I envy them. Let's face it: relationships are messy, complicated, and often frustrating. How much more so when these humans are the only American speaking people for miles, and they are stuck in a house for days at a time? How much more so when these humans long for alone time but despair because this house is not THAT big? "We're all we've got" sometimes feels blatantly true.

Imagine a world where you didn't have an enormous circle of friends to hang out with on weekends, at school, and for youth group trips. Imagine a world where Friday night only means you get to make pizza and sleep in the next day. Imagine a world where your siblings' motto is "Where you'll go I'll go. Where you'll stay, I'll stay." And of course, you're happy that their spiritual life is blossoming on such a foundation of trust, but independence is (sadly) often just out of reach. Either you learn to really love them, or you choose to be enemies forever.

We have our moments, and lots of them, but I think we are definitely closer for all of the times we've been stuck together. We've learned to have sleepovers with sisters, to make homemade escape rooms, to be the best of friends.

Friday nights have been "Family Night" for as long as I can remember. Sometimes we have a rotation set up, sometimes we take turns planning it, and sometimes we are tired and just do pizza and a movie. Up until last week we had gotten into a rut, so to speak. Family night was fun, yes, but it wasn't creating the excitement that it used to. We watched movies and played games, but underneath it all there was the whisper that said everybody would rather be doing something else.

Perspectives can change though, and by changing the little things we were able to change the attitude. We aren't going to exciting restaurants, we aren't traveling to Disney Land, we aren't doing any of the things that are considered "trendy" family fun. "Trendy" is often synonymous with "expensive", "individual", and "fleeting". I don't want those words to define our family. I want it to be defined with "Book Club", "Poetry", "Chicken 'n Cards", "Smoke, Stars, and Songs", "Us and the World", "Into the Future", "Who done it?", "World Domination", "Paint the Stars", "D.I.Y", and "Wordly Wise". These are the titles of a few of our new and improved adventure night plans. Each one has a distinct theme which is carried through a few main activities, the arrangement of the furniture, and the meal. "Smoke, Stars, and Songs" is obviously filled with stars and smoky campfires, dinner cooked in the embers, and singing songs to the strums of a guitar. World Domination features a humble shepherd's pie and rolls, followed by strategy board games in a temporary game room with epic adventure music. Poetry Night will be tea, complete with sandwiches and cake, soft music, famous poets, and calligraphy help to copy out verses.

Family time is a time to make memories and build relationships; it's not about where you are, or what you're doing. Besides, the less you have, the more your imagination gets a workout, and the more you can focus on the people around you.

-Kae-