Christmas, But Make it Fun Again

Welcome to Proof It's Possible! In this festive conversation, Dayle and Jamie explore the joys of Christmas traditions while also discussing innovative ways to create new memories. They emphasize the importance of maintaining family traditions, engaging in fun activities, and introducing unique games and themes to keep the holiday spirit alive. From creating a fort to hosting an anything but a cup party, the duo shares a plethora of ideas to make this Christmas memorable and enjoyable for all ages. Tune in to discover: 

• Why it's important to include new activities as your kids grow older
• Where to find fun, easy games to include in your holiday activities
• Ideas for free but impactful activities that will make your family go, "remember when we did that? Can we do it again this year?"
• Activities that will even get the adults excited and involved

What are your favourite activities to do during the holidays? Share your thoughts with us — we’d love to hear! DM us on Instagram @dayle_sheehan_designs & @jamiedfrancis! See you next time!

This episode is sponsored by our Ultimate Girls Trip! Be sure to go to www.proofitspossible.com for more info.

For More Information:
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Dayle:
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Jamie:
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Transcript

Dayle (00:31)
Hi guys, welcome back. Thank you so much for joining us. We are back on our Christmas topics again this week because why wouldn't maybe it is December and that is the best part about winter. So today we're chatting. Today we're chatting about the Christmas fun list. So we are traditionalists. We like the same exact meals. We like all the same.

Jamie (00:45)
The most fun herself over the year.

Dayle (00:58)
things and if we even try to change the kids get very mad. But we are both kind of like craving something some fun things to add in and maybe they'll become new traditions or maybe we'll do them once and we'll never do them again. But we just want like some memory making things that will make make this Christmas stand up. Jay what are you what are you thinking?

Jamie (01:19)
Well, I mean, this is a thing.

For sure, we're still doing like Christmas or presents Christmas morning. We're still having, know, Santa's still visiting us. We're still having turkey dinner. We're sticking to our like main things. But I do think, and we're doing like a Christmas tree and you know, like we are very much true to ourselves. They're in place and we're not asking you to change those unless you want to. But.

Dayle (01:38)
Yeah, the traditional things are in place. all, none of that. No.

Jamie (01:45)
These are just some ideas of things to do as... For me, the reason I'm even coming up with new ideas is because I feel like as the kids get older, Christmas changes. And as heartbreaking as that is, the gifts change, the ideas change. When they were little, it was hours of putting stuff together, toys together, putting batteries in, playing with your remote control car.

Dayle (01:56)
Yes. Yes. It's so hard for me. Yes.

Jamie (02:10)
for hours playing with your Barbie playhouse. And that kind of excitement dwindles as the kids get older, which is just the most sad, sad reality that we're facing. So how do you keep the fun alive when you've got a preteen or you're adults? That's the real tricky thing. Because I remember hitting 20 and being like, wow, Christmas is a real drag. I just crave the nostalgia of my childhood and all the fun.

Dayle (02:22)
Yes.

⁓ yeah.

It is, like it was boring. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Jamie (02:40)
the excitement

Dayle (02:40)
Totally.

Jamie (02:41)
that Christmas used to have, you So that's where this list was birthed The Christmas Fun List.

Dayle (02:45)
Okay,

get us started. What do you got on it? Jamie's the queen of Christmas and I don't even weigh in because honestly, if I were to say something that I wanted to do at Christmas, Jamie would be like, no, no, we have a-

Jamie (02:49)
Ha!

You wouldn't

say something you wanted to do. That's just the reality of the situation.

Dayle (03:01)
Well,

it truthfully, I'm just happy to be at Christmas. Like I like all the things you do. So I'm just happy about it.

Jamie (03:07)
Don't act

like you're giving all this input and I'm just the monster who's rejecting it. Literally, she inputs nothing. Nothing.

Dayle (03:11)
No, I'm not saying you're a monster. I'm just saying that I

don't. And I just get told like you're you're making green bean casserole.

Jamie (03:18)
She coasts. She coasts and she relies

on me and then she gets onto the podcast and pretends like I am the slave driver. Okay, anyways, I like a very traditional Christmas aesthetic. I know that Dale is like more of a like polished Christmas aesthetic, but I like like crazy Christmas. I like nutcrackers. I like Christmas trains.

Dayle (03:26)
Yes.

Cheers.

Mm-hmm.

Jamie (03:44)
I like colors, I like reds, like lots of red, lots of lights. I like lots of lights. I like colored paper of all colors, not just the theme color, not just black and white, not just red and black, not just blue. Like I like my Christmas wrapping paper to be all the things. And I think that's partially because I like the nostalgia of like, that's what we did in childhood. We had a colorful Christmas tree and we did all the things. So for me, it's very important that my Christmas tree is reflective of

Dayle (03:50)
Yes.

Jamie (04:14)
all of the years leading up to that. So I've got like a Christmas ornament that Dale painted when she was like five years old of a dog from ceramics class. I have like the kids' photos with Santa over the years in Christmas frames, ornaments, you know, like all the things that remind me of all the years that have come and gone. So one way to like spice up your Christmas is to put pictures on your Christmas tree. It's one of my fave, fave, fave, fave things to do.

Dayle (04:38)
For sure.

Jamie (04:41)
But I'm sure by now your Christmas tree is already up and running, but I'm just saying for next year, something you should do. Yeah. Yeah.

Dayle (04:47)
or even go quickly print off a couple and use those little globes and just put them on. It's not

like the dollar store usually has those little globes.

Jamie (04:54)
Yeah, they do. And they have new ones this year that you can like almost put like fake snow and stuff in that are really, really cool. The other thing that I thought that kind of like lends to this is doing a family time capsule. So like putting in a little box, like not a big box, like I'm talking like a little box, but putting in each person putting in at least one or two items that represent something that was really important to them that year. So like this year, it was a big deal that the Blue Jays almost

Dayle (04:58)
Hmm.

Jamie (05:23)
won the World Series. we were as a family watching the Blue Jays game. So like we have a fake tattoo of the Blue Jays logo that I plan to put in it just so that when we open it, we can be like, my God, remember the year that that was really important to us.

Dayle (05:23)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Well, and when do you open it? Do you wait till next year and be like, yeah, that was from last year? Or do you wait like your whole lifetime till the kids are all out?

Jamie (05:43)
I think you could,

it's not gonna be sealed. Like I'm not gonna seal it. It's gonna be a box that you can continually open. So I think we're just gonna start collecting them over the years and we can look at them every Christmas. You can go back to every year. I don't think there's gonna be rules around when you get to look at it, but.

Dayle (05:55)
Yeah.

and almost like put it in the Christmas stuff. resurfaces out of the blue and yeah, I like that.

Jamie (06:02)
Only once a year.

Other things is like you could put a picture of yourself ski jumping or you know like or yeah their accomplishments if they have like an award that they were really proud of or a medal or just anything I don't know.

Dayle (06:11)
Yeah, for the kids, like their accomplishments. ⁓

For sure. Also kind of

like hide some of their shit. So it doesn't have to be out and about in the house all year long.

Jamie (06:23)
Please.

Partially why I put the school pictures on the Christmas tree is because I don't love a traditional looking like school photo hung up on the wall. So it's one way that we get to use them and see them once a year and then they get put in a box. So I think that's a really fun idea. The other thing is that I thought of doing a hot chocolate master chef. So if you have like,

Dayle (06:36)
With the laser beams, how come?

Mm-hmm.

Jamie (06:51)
family in town, cousins in town, friends that you always spend Christmas with, or you're hosting a party or something, everybody has to come with their special hot chocolate recipe. So you could mix in some Nutella, you could have sprinkle marshmallows, something that sets it apart. And then there has to be a judging panel where they raid everybody and they make a big deal out of the different varieties, varieties of hot chocolate.

Dayle (07:01)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Yeah, for sure.

say something about that because I, we do this throughout the year like a couple of times with friends where we will have a cooking challenge and so it'll be like bring the best appetizer or bring the best and then we all judge like we get to vote and so we've done it with friends that are vegan so we all had to make a vegan thing we've done it with appetizers we've done it just like dinner items like bring the best dish for dinner.

Jamie (07:23)
Again.

Dayle (07:42)
And so it's very, very fun. People take it so serious. You get so much better of stuff if you don't have to make all the food because somebody else put in a lot of energy into their one dish and then you put a lot of energy into your one dish and people are so much more like invested in the actual dinner because it's just fun.

Jamie (07:49)
Hold it.

Totally.

Well, and like that's one way to like host a party. If you don't want to have to like do all the work and make all the food this Christmas, if you're having people over and you're like sick of eating the same old, you know, five things that you eat at Christmas, this is one way to like jazz it up, spice it up. Like an adult party, you could do real food kid party. You could do like a hot chocolate one or a cookie one. And like they could come up with some specialty recipe that, and then there's a judging.

Dayle (08:15)
Yeah, exactly.

Well, and

I think that kids after a certain age like the contest element of it too. Adults definitely do.

Jamie (08:35)
Yeah. I also feel

like you have to just fill in the days of Christmas a little bit. Once kids aren't into toys for hours on end, like it's kind of like, okay, well now we're staring at each other because everyone ripped open their, their new outfit and put it on. And what do we do for the rest of the day? So it's just a way to like keep everyone engaged and doing stuff that you wouldn't naturally do. Like rather than everyone go to their room and watch movie or lay on the couch or do something you

Dayle (08:40)
Yes! ⁓

Exactly. Yeah.

total.

Jamie (09:04)
you're actually like acting as a family unit. Other thing that we did during COVID as a family, which man, was it a pain in the ass, but like the kids still talk about it. Like it was a great experience. We built a fort, like we got the sheets out and we made a full like ultra fort of all ultra forts. So that's a tip. Use sheets, not blankets because sheets don't weigh as much and that you can do way cooler stuff with them. But,

Dayle (09:19)
Gosh. Yeah.

Jamie (09:29)
Build a full fort one night in between Christmas and New Year's or leading up to Christmas where you watch a Christmas movie from the fort. From the fort. That's the most important part. So fun. It's so fun. The other thing I have on my list is turn on Christmas music and dance. So I know this one's like, yeah, everyone already knows that. That's ridiculous.

Dayle (09:32)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, totally. How fun. How fun.

Jamie (09:50)
But Ari really loves Christmas music. And the other night she brought Alexa right to the dining room and she's like, Alexa, play modern Christmas beats. Hey Alexa, play, you know, so it starts playing like Justin Bieber and Mariah Carey and all the like, they're actually like dancing little songs. And the next thing you know, the whole household was just like dancing and singing Christmas carols. And it was just like so fun and exciting and spontaneous.

Dayle (09:56)
Yeah.

Yeah.

proven.

Jamie (10:19)
like not something our family typically does. We're not like the family that dances around the kitchen usually, but just a fun way to get into the like holiday spirit.

Dayle (10:29)
And like free, you know, like it's not something you're like, okay, well, you know what we're going to do? We're going to go to Mexico and that'll make it different. Not that I'm saying that that's bad idea. I'm just saying that these kinds of little memories have a big lasting impact that don't cost anything.

Jamie (10:34)
Yeah.

Totally.

Totally. And then the other one, which was inspired by Mila, her Ringette team went to an escape room as a team and they absolutely loved it. So then Mila was like, I want to do that for my birthday. But of course you're like limited to how many people can go into the room and all the things. So then I started researching like, what could we do in an escape room at home? And is there a Christmas theme? And there's a million on Etsy. So definitely read the reviews because I've bought one that I was like, what a total drag.

Dayle (11:03)
Right.

Jamie (11:17)
it was a bunch of like crossword puzzles and whatever. But there are some like interactive ones. There's some that you get like the clue a day leading up to Christmas so that you can put it all together and they look really cool. They're like actually physical, like something that gets mailed to you. So that's, you know, like more exciting than one that you just print off yourself. You know that if you have to print it off yourself, like the clues aren't going to be that exciting, that visually appealing, like you're limited to like

Dayle (11:33)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

Jamie (11:45)
computer paper and print ink. ⁓ Whereas if it's like something that physically gets mailed to you, then, you know, it's a little more exciting and it drives me away.

Dayle (11:47)
Yeah, whatever can be printed.

Mm-hmm. Well, speaking

of like coming up with games and stuff and you would need like a larger group, but if it's your year to have like a lot more family around, we started watching the reality show that is the part where you it's the show where you can win four million dollars the squid game one like not the original that's like about murder, but this one's the game show sort of version of it and it's crazy because they come up with such a simple game.

Jamie (12:11)
Good night.

Dayle (12:20)
using one tennis ball. And you're like, ⁓ this is so stressful. my gosh. So it's like, they're just so like, obviously their sets are very fancy and crazy and all the things. But like, one of them was based on the game catch. So every you both weren't eliminated if you could make the throw. So when it's your turn to throw, you if you're whoever you chose to throw it to could catch it.

Jamie (12:24)
interesting. I've never seen this before game, so I have like.

Dayle (12:47)
you get to stay in the game, but then it's their turn to throw. And so the next person might not catch their throw. So it just, it's so stressful, but it's also like fun and something you could literally set up. And it would be way easier than on the show. in like your living room, just to fill time, just to make people laugh, just to have like ideas. And it's a tennis ball. That's all it is. And they had like a rule that depending on, cause there's like hundreds of people in this game. So once 15 balls had dropped,

Jamie (12:57)
Yeah.

Dayle (13:13)
and like not got caught by people, the game was over. So being at the end of the line of the catchers was like, could it be they've been really safe or it could be the worst place to be because you have the hardest throw and catch to make. So it's just kind of like fun, silly things that and there's been a whole bunch of them that I thought we could do this at a family get together Christmas. We could do this at a family reunion. Like these are easy. These are not complicated things to set up.

Jamie (13:26)
Yeah.

My head.

And like other, I've never seen Squid Games, so I obviously can't comment on that. But other fun things I've seen on TikTok, like if you want ideas, just type Christmas games into TikTok. I never go on TikTok, ever, ever, ever. But I was trying to do some research for like, can we do for a sporting team Christmas party? And TikTok's where it's at. I'm telling you, it's where all the fun happens. So if you're curious, just join for like even a day to get some ideas because there is...

Dayle (13:51)
Totally.

Mm-hmm.

Yes, for sure.

Mm-hmm.

Jamie (14:08)
so many like minute to minute style fun games that you haven't seen before. Like they're ones that are new and exciting and just like way better than

Dayle (14:13)
for

Yes.

One thing I will warn about games is like know your kids and know the ages of your kids. Cause we did one at a family reunion when all the kids were really little, like not just your kids, but the cousins, kids, everybody. And like, it was one of those ones where you pulled a string from the middle and there was a hidden thing under a cup. And some of those under the cup, sometimes it was like money. Sometimes it was a toy. Sometimes it was nothing. So when kids would get nothing,

Jamie (14:34)
Yes.

Dayle (14:44)
they'd lose their damn mind. Want even? Yeah, exactly. Like a boy toy and their girl. We're like, my God, why did we do this? This isn't good. It's better for a teenager, like where there's heartbreak. You know, so know your audience.

Jamie (14:46)
or they got a toy that they didn't want. Like it was...

Yeah, it was awful.

Yeah, absolutely. ⁓

The other thing, speaking of games, that I thought would be really fun, if you have like a big family or you have a lot of people around at Christmas, doing like a tournament style board game. So like, you like literally can come and go, like this is for like, if you have a huge Christmas and there's lots of people around, but like you can, at our house, it's always the dining room is kind of like where you play because we also have another table and they get to eat at.

Dayle (15:12)
yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Jamie (15:25)
But you can come and go. So if it's your turn to play, you play whatever the game is and it's tournament style. you put up a tournament board and be like round robin. This is where everybody plays. This is who's moving on. This is who's not. It can last over a couple of days. It just looks really fun and a way to keep everybody just a little bit engaged.

Dayle (15:34)
Mm-hmm.

sure. Well, and we did this at grandpa's 90th birthday. And I did it just with the kids. And we didn't have the board and everything. But we played like once if you if you lost and had the least amount of money in the game, you ended up not being in contention for the next round. But because kids don't want to not play, I didn't let I said they could still play. So they got to play every round, but they just weren't in contention for being being what I called the grand champion.

Jamie (16:10)
Thank you.

Right.

Dayle (16:12)
So that was another easy, fun way to do it.

Jamie (16:15)
Yeah, so fun. And the other thing is our family always does like a white elephant gift exchange and it's growing old for sure. Like everyone's like, here's the thing. So this year I was thinking to spice it up a little bit that we do like a re-gifting party. And like the crazier your re-gift, the funnier. And it doesn't have to be stuff that people want. These are re-gifts. These are already castaways. These are already things people don't like or didn't want.

Dayle (16:20)
Mm-hmm.

for sure.

Hmm?

Absolutely.

Yeah. Well,

do you remember when mom used to do this with her friends in in Phoenix and they would it had to be something from your house. So they they would find like an old lamp in the spare bedroom. And keep in mind these ladies are like 70 to they're like 60 to 80 years old. So like they had some doozies in their house like they had some things that you're like, people they'd walk in the door and the whole room of golf ladies would just

Because they're like, I don't want that red velvet lamp. I just don't. I, wants.

Jamie (17:09)
And that's

the thing, is that that is funny. I love that.

Dayle (17:12)
It's funny and fun.

Exactly. And you get to get rid of your red velvet lamp if you have one, you know. So I agree.

Jamie (17:17)
Exactly.

Okay, and then my final thing is a anything but party. So I don't know if you've heard of this. I also saw it on TikTok, but my daughter's school did this and it was anything but a backpack day at school. So people could bring their books and their lunch in anything but a backpack. like some kids had like, I picked her up from school. So everyone's walking out of the school carrying their thing. Some had like movie boxes.

if their books were in a movie box. Some people had like a kid's grocery cart, like they stole from their little sister or their little brother. Like some people had like their cat carrier. Just like wild and crazy things. And then, yes, luggage, like full on luggage. Mila, my daughter, took like a cotton sundress and tied a knot on the bottom and then used the straps, like the tank top straps as...

Dayle (17:49)
Right.

hilarious.

my gosh. Yeah. Some had like luggage you said like their parents luggage.

Jamie (18:15)
like as the handle to her bag. Hilarious. ⁓ But the one that I saw on TikTok, which actually cracked me up is they were at a work meeting and everybody knew except the boss that this was an anything but a cup party. So everyone's like having the meeting and it's a dead serious meeting and people are drinking out of like one guy's got the culligan water. One guy has

Dayle (18:16)
Helpers.

That's so smart, I love it.

Jamie (18:39)
he has like a laundry soap thing that he's got a straw stick sticking out. And like some people have like way more, like one has like just like a little Petri dish and she just keeps like slurping it. So at first the boss doesn't really realize until like obviously the tied thing comes out and the guy takes a drink and they'll call me why. But like at first they're very subtle and kind of just like, he's like, that's weird. But like he keeps carrying on with the meeting.

Dayle (18:43)
Yeah. Hilarious.

Yeah, it gets weirder and weirder.

Okay.

That is so funny. Yes.

Jamie (19:06)
And then

finally, everyone's laughing so hard that the culling good guy goes and whatever. And I'm like, this is hilarious. And you need to do this to like a set of grandparents or something. Like you sit down to Christmas dinner and everyone brings like anything but a cup party or you could do it for anything really. It doesn't have to be like, it doesn't have to be a cup, but just something that I think is hilarious.

Dayle (19:16)
Totally.

Yes, and you have one group that doesn't know.

Well, it could even be like your utensils at dinner. Like, half the people are eating turkey dinner with like their chopsticks. Someone else is just stabbing it with their knife. Like they're not allowed a fork. Or they have to use a spoon, you know? That would be so funny. I love it.

Jamie (19:34)
Totally.

Yeah. Yeah.

Totally.

Or even

put it in like everyone has to bring anything but, let's say utensils. So everyone has to bring an alternate and then it goes into like a big bag and you have to pull one out and that's what you get to eat yourself. Like I think kids and adults would think that's fun and exciting and hilarious. So.

Dayle (19:58)
That's yours. Yeah, that's amazing.

Totally. Even

as the host, you could surprise your guests with that activity and be like, it's a crapshoot. So part of the fun is getting to pick in the bag. And then part of the hilarity is trying to make your appetizer night work with, or whatever, like your party work with the stupid options that you're given.

Jamie (20:22)
I also think

part of the fun is coming up with the idea, Like, leading up to the party.

Dayle (20:25)
Well, it is, but like some

people are like, what is that? I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not doing it. You know what I mean? Like, so if as the host, you've got like 10 good ideas, you only need 10 good ideas, it's not a bad idea to just provide, but super fun.

Jamie (20:36)
Yeah. Yeah.

Okay, well that's it. That's all my ideas for Christmas. So I hope everybody has an amazing Christmas season and I hope it's filled with love and laughter and all of the good stuff that Christmas brings. So, thank

Dayle (20:47)
Yes, Merry Christmas!

and show us

how you had to eat your turkey dinner if it wasn't with a fork. Now we're dying to know, and we'll share ours too.

Jamie (20:59)
Yeah, for sure. Okay, Merry Christmas, everyone. See you in the new year.

Dayle (21:02)
Merry Christmas.