12 Dates With Your Spouse Before Christmas

The Christmas season is here in full swing. I have to say, I am excited about it. As you know, it is all a lot of fun and A LOT of work. Typically my energy during the Christmas season goes into making the season magical for our kids and preparing for our guests to arrive. My husband and I typically get so busy that we forget to enjoy the season together. Christmas Eve comes and we are all ready to celebrate as a family, but forgot to have fun as a couple along the way. This year, we are becoming intentional about making memories together during the Christmas season and I hope to inspire you to do the same.

Here are 12 dates until Christmas that you can plan:

• Call grandma and grandpa and plan for your kids to stay over at their house one night in December. My mom graciously offered to take the kids over night and make Christmas cookies with them. It is a win –win!
• Go ice-skating together at the Edgewater Hotel.
• Go to one of those adult only Christmas parties this year you’ve wanted to go to. Plan your babysitter now and make it happen!
• Stop at a coffee shop to get hot chocolate and drive around looking at Christmas lights together. It is fun and a good time to connect with conversation.
• Plan a shopping trip together on a Saturday morning. Go out for breakfast and plan your shopping trip. My favorite breakfast spot is the Marigold Kitchen downtown. Sitting down over breakfast will create time and space for you to plan your shopping trip goals.   My husband actually does not enjoy shopping at all. However, he is a master at accomplishing a to-do list. If we are on a specific mission, I can get him engaged with shopping. You may be thinking that you can’t find, afford, or juggle this several babysitters in the month of December, so swap with a friend. Again, it can be another win-win.
• Serve together. This one doesn’t seem as romantic, but can be so fun! You could plan to ring bells together, serve at a food pantry, wrap Christmas presents for a charity, or adopt a child together. It’s the season for giving and doing this with my husband makes it so much better.
• Sign up for a cooking class together. We’ve taken a cooking class at Sur La Table at Hilldale mall before and it was fabulous!
• Make a date after the kids go to bed. Order pick up from one of your favorite restaurants, put your phones away, and pick a Christmas movie to watch together. No babysitter required.
• We need snow before this can happen, but go sledding together, go cross-country skiing, or snowshoeing. It doesn’t have to be that involved. It can be done right here in Madison, so a lot of travel isn’t necessary. Most importantly, its fun to put all the stress of Christmas planning aside and  do something fun.
• Go see a Christmas play together. The Nutcracker is always a great choice, however, there many other options in the surrounding area.
• Plan a night to exchange gifts without your kids. In years past, my husband and I have handed each other our gifts in the chaos of the kids opening theirs. Make it a special event and only include the two of you. The gifts will seem better received and appreciated.
• Lastly, write a love letter to your spouse. The Christmas season is full of chaos so it is a great time of year to take some time out of your day to write a love letter and give it to him/her right before Christmas Day. This is a great way to wrap up your month of making memories together and also a way to start Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on positive note and feeling connected as a couple.

Merry Christmas! I hope you have a month full of making memories with your spouse.