In the ministry of parenting and being children in a family, there are ways of working in family traditions or just a way to “lighten up” the family experience. Remember, being a family in the coming millennium takes some work; consider the following:

1. Rent a funny movie and watch it together.
2. Put a funny message on your telephone answering machine.
3. Play a game of “Pictionary” with your family.
4. If you have a home video camera, make a family “music video” to send to relatives. Make outrageous costumes, use household times as musical instruments, and lip sync a rock and roll record. Let the kids be the lead singer(s).
5. Make ice cream sundaes for desert, but secretly make them with a scoop of mashed potatoes instead of ice cream.
6. Hide love notes in your teenager’s underwear drawer.
7. Write a note to your child/parent on his/her bed with jellybeans.
8. Organize your family’s personal quest for the “world’s greatest pizza” by visiting every pizza place over the next two or three months.
9. Come up with your own family holiday to celebrate once a year, like “National (your family name) Day”. Make it a day in the middle of the week (like the third Wednesday of October each year when everyone can cut school and do something fun together as a family.
10. The best activity to do as an entire family: celebrate Holy Mass together each Sunday. It is one of the “glues” that keeps the Christian family strong not only in your home but in our culture.

May God bless your family activities together!!!