If You Could Make Your Own Holiday…
Thinking of holidays, people picture trips like visiting beaches in Hawaii, theme parks in Los Angeles, historic buildings in Italy, or eating exotic cuisine in Mexico. Living in this fast-paced world, we’re all bearing different responsibilities and duties in our daily lives. We all crave a long holiday in which we can leave everything behind and just refresh our minds.
According to Congressional Research Service, the U.S observes 12 permanent federal holidays. This includes New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr.’s Birthday, Independence Day, and Christmas. The origins of these holidays are different and people celebrate these holidays with different activities. However, with technology’s advancement and pandemic restrictions, the way we celebrate these holidays is similar to every other day of the year: staying at home, watching Netflix, and scrolling on our phones.
I wonder about the meanings behind the various holidays. Every holiday has its history and purpose. I don’t believe the person who established New Year’s Day expected people to be watching YouTube videos the whole day. While we celebrate Thanksgiving Day with our families, I doubt many of us feel truly grateful for all the amazing things in our lives. Holidays aren’t supposed to be ordinary days that give us extra time to sleep and eat; they’re special days to relish and enjoy doing something aligning with the day’s purpose. And on March 26th, we celebrate Make Up Your Own Holiday Day! So for fun, I explored this idea.
If given a chance to create a holiday, I’d set up a day called Family Reunion Day – a day where we all spend time with our families. Instead of interacting with our phones, we’d have face-to-face interaction with the ones we’re closest with. On that day, everyone must unplug. Parents can’t answer any work correspondence, children are prohibited from using technological devices, and all family members plan activities to spend time doing together.
The Purpose Of a Family Reunion Holiday
It sounds unnecessary to make up a holiday which solely asks people to spend time with their families. Yet, it brings more beneficial outcomes to the bonding of a family than we think.
We tend to neglect the importance of maintaining familial relationships as we’re always overwhelmed by never-ending daily hassles. We create different excuses to skip family dinners on weekends or shut our doors after school and work. It seems we seldom care about the people who live under the same roof as us. And, in a way, we almost forget how to love our family.
The purpose of creating Family Reunion Day is to encourage everyone to maintain the bond of their families. You can simply watch a movie with your family on that day, do some crafts together, clean up the house, play board games, go to a park, and have a picnic. The only requirement of the day is that you have to do all these types of things together with your family.
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Activities To Do Family Reunion Day
If you’ve long forgotten how to spend time with your family, here are some suggestions for you to do on the holiday.
Morning
In the morning, you take the initiative to prepare breakfast and split the workload with your family members. You be the cook and your sister the assistant while your brother sets up the table, your mum washes the dishes, and your dad takes photos to capture the morning.
After enjoying breakfast, you can go grocery shopping with your mum. Help her decide what to buy, unload the heavy necessities from the car, and just be a great companion so that you spend more time chatting and laughing.
Afternoon
Then, you might do something with your family somewhere outside in the sunshine, like a picnic in the park. Bring some card games so that you have fun and create some priceless memories together. When the sun sets, it’s time to go home and watch a movie together. Choose a family movie and grab everyone’s favorite snacks to eat while you guys laugh and enjoy each other’s company. The movie isn’t the focus, the time you spend together is.
Evening
After the movie, it’s time for dinner. Deciding what to eat is a big dilemma, especially when everyone in the family has their own preference. Using paper-scissors-rock is a good way to prevent arguments when it comes to calling take-out or deciding what to make.
After finishing dinner, reflect on the day together. Prepare some colored papers and pens, ask your family to write down their most unforgettable moment of the day, and ask them to share their thoughts and feelings about this precious holiday.
If you still have time, call your relatives and do a Zoom chat with them. If you have relatives who live on the other side of the globe, it’s the perfect time to catch up with them. Share with them what you all did that day, ask about their struggles in life, and send your warmest greeting to them as it’s Family Reunion Day!
Anyday Can Be Family Reunion Day
It’s sad that Family Reunion Day is not a real holiday existing on the calendar. However, I think it’s a day that should be added to our schedule even though it’s not an official federal holiday.
We don’t need a holiday to remind ourselves how important family is. Spending time with family is not an over-reaching goal. It’s time to care about our family members. Don’t wait until you regret it. Life is so unpredictable and we don’t know when we will take our last breath. So, take advantage of the opportunity to spend time with your loved ones, show love to the people around you, treasure the time you still can hold them tightly and don’t forget to start planning your own Family Reunion Day.
