The Festive season is a good time for families to re-unite and spend time together. The demands on our daily lives naturally create gap in our homes and relationships. It is even worse where parents' workplaces are at two extreme locations and children are away at school. This is why it is important to utilize every opportunity to make this Christmas holiday a memorable one both for yourself your hubby and your kids. Here are simple ways to totally enjoy this season while you get to know more about your kids.

1. Switch to a holiday mood: Whether you have obtained a break from work already or not, this is a great time to switch to a holiday mood. Christmas is a cheerful season, an opportunity to spend good time with your kids. Put that smile on your face, cast off the all -work tone from your voice and let some cheerfulness replace it. Let everyone around you feel your excitement and cheerfulness, that could be contagious. If you think you've had it rough and there is no need to smile, think about all those who died before now, or all those in the hospitals who'd give anything to simply get out of their sick beds and watch the sun.

2. Have your mapped out plan ready: surprise your kids with a ready fun-plan for the holiday. While I acknowledge the fact that some of us may still need to work all through the season, making the most of every extra time or free day would count for something. All you need do is plan around those free days and give your family a treat that'll stay in their hearts for a very long time. This could simply be serving a wonderful homemade meal for a change, or baking something with your kids, or spending the day at the park, or anything that would bring the entire family together to have fun is worth doing.

3.Talk plenty with your kids: Talk a lot with your kids, and encourage them to talk about themselves, life at school, new friends they made, old friends they left, or still hang out with, their academics, whatever topics that helps you learn more about them should do. Remember not to sound like you are probing or interrogating them, that way, they'll love to talk about these things.

4. Chip in some motherly advice: Utilize every opportunity to push an advice or two across. If you have teenage sons or daughters, it won't be a bad idea to buy them little books on building their esteem. They would treat it as the special gift that it is.