The Hip Family’s Guide to Happier Holidays

Though this guide has been around for a few years now, the number of requests to share it has grown each Holiday Season. In that time, your once small children and grandchildren have grown older. This expanded edition includes the same great resources for young families along with new insights and opportunities for families with kids of all ages. Take the ideas that delight you and discard the rest so your holiday is made up of fewer things to “get through” and more experiences to savor.

From the author’s introduction:

The single best piece of advice I received as a young mom was that my job was to create memories for my children. Bill’s book reminded me that, unless we were very intentional about it, Target, and keeping up with the proverbial “Joneses,” were going to define our holidays for us. We needed to be more purposeful –more intentional — about our time and money, and spending them in ways that would enrich us, remind us of our bounty, and bring more joy to our family and communities.

First, I sat down with my family to define more specifically what we were all after. We asked ourselves:

• What are our favorite memories of holidays past?
• What would make this holiday special, if we did not get gifts?
• What holiday tradition do we hope our own children and grandchildren will remember with love, and continue with their own families?

Our answers fell into three buckets: Rituals and Traditions, Giving and Service, and Good Gifting. Over a decade of collecting inspiring stories and ideas for these three buckets, has made the road to making memories much easier to travel. You’ll find here a sampling of a few favorites.