If you were spared from this week’s weather woes consider yourself lucky. Much of the nation is recovering from ice storms, blizzards, thunderstorms, and brutally cold temperatures. The wintry mayhem was blamed for at least five traffic deaths as it cut a swath from Texas to Michigan before entering the Northeast this morning.
Parts of our state picked up 18 inches of snow in a 12-hour period. It has virtually shut down a number of communities. People here (and in other states) are snowed in and housebound. Not a bad thing when you are single, but it’s another story when you’ve got kids to entertain.
So what can you do if you find yourself confined to your residence with a houseful of kids? Here are five ideas that worked for us:
1. Round up the kids and call the neighbors to organize a family snowball fight or neighborhood snow sculpture contest in your yard. You can make snowmen, snowwomen, and snow children, an igloo or even a chorus of snow angels.
2. Forget the powdered hot cocoa and store bought cookies. Get out your recipe books and have the kids pick a few dishes they want to help put together.
3. If you can’t make it out to the video rental store comb your own archives to find some heart-warming holiday favorites, including the obvious choice, Snow Day. Some of our other favorites include: Charlie Brown’s Christmas, ELF, The Santa Clause, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Snow Dogs, A Christmas Story, Nightmare Before Christmas, The Christmas Toy, Muppet Christmas Carol, Home Alone, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, It’s A Wonderful life, and Miracle On 34th Street. If you don’t have any of these in your own video library consider calling a neighbor and asking to them to take part in a video swap with your family.
4. Get out the puffy snow pants and snowsuits and go sledding. Our neighborhood has a 20-foot sledding hill, but even if yours doesn’t you could still get some exercise in by making like a sled dog and giving your kids the ride of their lives around your block.
5. Art and Crafts. There’s no time like the present to get going on your holiday greeting cards. Round up the art-and-craft’s containers and get your kids started on making homemade cards for friends and loved ones. And while they’re at it have them make a few extras to send to U.S. soldiers stationed overseas this holiday season.
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