Mid-winter Blues and Red-Letter Days

· Homeschool,Children,family,Activity

The treats of the holidays are a distant memory and the explosion of spring is a vague hope. Are you in need of something to spark your family’s mood in these bleak mid-winter days?

Perfect timing for a Red-Letter Day!

What are Red-Letter Days? A “red-letter day” is a quaint old title for a day that is pleasantly noteworthy or memorable (according to Google).

Some years ago, when my family was bogged in a mid-winter malaise, I instituted Red-Letter Days. I just got an old peanut butter jar (that happened to have a red lid!) and filled it with slips of paper with various surprise activities. I bought a pair of socks that were covered with letters (strange find, I know). Every couple days, I’d wear the socks. When a kid noticed the socks - they could choose a card from the jar. And it became a Red-Letter Day!

This shouldn't be a big project.  Just grab a piece of paper - cut it up - dash off some common activities that will seem special when they’re treated as a treat!

Use your kids’ imaginations to add to your list. Some of our cards:

- Hat Day

- Narnia Day

- Bible Character Day

- Make Someone Else’s Bed Day

- Renaissance Day

- Plan a Surprise for Mommy/Daddy Day

- Stuffed Animal Day

- Pirate Day

- Art Project Day

- Pioneer Day

- Beach Party Day

- Bless Someone Else Day

- Color Day

- Game Day

- Do Schoolwork Day Candlelight Day

- Take Treats to Church Office Day

- Super Hero Day

- Dessert for Breakfast Day

- Plan a Party Day

- Bless a Neighbor Day

- Send Card to an Older Person From Church Day

- Bless Grandparents Day

- Do a chore for someone else day

- PJ Day

- Lego Day

- Camping Day

- Choose a Read-Aloud Day

- Make an invention Day

- Do a holiday from another country Day

- Create a new holiday

- Outer Space Day

- Limericks are Fun Day

- Pig Latin Day

- Mom's Day Off

The only rule for our Red-Letter Days: they could NOT be a big production. The activity or theme was just accomplished with what we had on hand. No runs to the store - no big messes. Ok - sometimes there were big messes - but most days have messes, right? These were SPECIAL messes!

One funny experience from our Red-Letter Days: we did Dessert for Breakfast Day once. Just once. I made LARGE chocolate chip cookies and served them as breakfast. Shortly - the kids felt quite ill. Cookies for breakfast lead into a good nutrition lesson about refined carbs and blood sugar and energy. Let’s just say they’ve begged to never do that Red-Letter Day again!

Your kids need a break. You need a break. Take it! Color it RED.

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