Let’s think back to summer of 2020. We’d been in the pandemic for a few months, and we were all growing very weary. The time of official ‘quarantine’ was coming to an end, but covid didn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. We were in the midst of the 2020 election cycle, and stress levels were high.
Every time you turned on the TV or scrolled through social media, another news story would send your blood pressure through the roof. It was impossible to escape, and we were all exhausted.
My family and I, like many of you, were struggling to navigate this new normal. We were being asked to return to work and to school, even though we lacked information and resources to determine if it was safe to do so. We were stressed and scared and facing a serious group-wide case of burnout.
What we needed was a way to get away from it all – even if just for a little while
Thus the beginning of the Annual Family Labor Day Games!
Towards the end of July 2020, we all kept coming back to the sentiment that we needed a break. The news was giving us headaches, we were anxious about the state of the world, and wanted to remember what it felt like to be ‘normal’.
So, we decided to do something about it!
We all had time off for the long weekend, and we began planning a tournament of lawn games and board games amongst our family.
We planned for ice cream sundaes and movie nights. Wooden egg races and Frozen Trouble. Giant dominoes and corn hole.
The only rule was that we would agree for it to be a news-free weekend. We were banned from talking about the pandemic or world events. If we were going to escape for a while – we were really going to put our hearts into it.
Those first games were such a shining bright spot in what was a pretty bleak year. Our competitive spirits led to laughing so hard our stomachs hurt. We kept score, and won prizes, but in the end the point was that we remembered what it felt like to be normal. To be having stress-free fun.
In the year after that first tournament, we often found ourselves thinking back to how much fun we had over those few days. We have a lot of great holiday traditions in my family, but the Labor Day games quickly became a new favorite.
Soon enough, Labor Day was coming around again, and in 2021 we began planning our Second Annual Family Labor Day Games.
We spent time plotting which games we would play, what food we would eat, and how to make the competition fair amongst the family.
We planned for outdoor games in the morning and evenings when it was cool enough to be outside, and picked board games to play in the afternoons when the heat was too much.
Somehow, the second games were even more fun than the first! There is nothing funnier than having a timed puzzle working competition with a puzzle that was missing a piece!
And racing across the lawn on a pool noodle is almost hysterical.
After the second games, we all agreed this needed to become an annual thing! We divided up jobs – organizing games, picking prizes, planning food, and this time including the addition of t-shirts and a trophy!
Labor Day weekend is fast approaching, and it’s something we’ve been looking forward to all year! Our t-shirts are made, and waiting to be worn. The game binder is set up, with old favorites (squirt gun cup races) and new ideas (beach ball races).
The first rule still stands – no talk about pandemics and stressful world events. This weekend is for joy. For time with family. For laughter and making memories! The Labor Day Games are an example of how we can lean into the happy things in our lives.
The past few years have been rough – that’s not a secret. But I love that we can look back and find these sweet silver linings.
