Putting My Winter Break To-Do List in Writing

December 15, 2023

Tara Rittler,

I don’t usually to a great job of planning activities for Joss over shorter breaks. Unfortunately, this lack of planning doesn’t usually result in a peaceful week. So for Winter Break, I’ve come up with a list of things to do – with his help, of course. I’m sharing it here in case I lose track of the original list! And maybe you’ll want to “steal” some of these ideas.

Winter Break to-do list written on a piece of decorative paper

I’ve added a few items.

1. The Nutcracker

We got tickets to see The Nutcracker thanks to TulsaKids, so we will be attending a weekday matinee. This is great because I can get photos for work while also doing something fun at a time I would normally be trying to work. The biggest school break struggle is balancing needing to work with keeping screen time in check, at least a little.

2. Hiking at Turkey Mountain

We’ve yet to try the new family-friendly trails at Turkey Mountain. Hopefully the weather will be good enough over break that we can remedy that!

After hiking, I hope to visit Alien Games in Jenks, as we are still on our quest to visit most of Tulsa’s game stores. A visit to GameStop is also on Joss’s list.

3. Visit an Arcade

This is one of Joss’s contributions. Originally, he had high hopes of beating some arcade games after watching a YouTube video where the guy walked out with a Nintendo Switch. We explained that this would a) not be possible and b) not be cost-effective, but I think he’d still enjoy this activity.

If you have a favorite local arcade, let us know where to go!

4. Visit Fulton Street Books

Fulton Street Books and Coffee just opened up their new location in the Greenwood District, so I’m excited to visit! I’ll let Joss pick out a book (or two) while we’re there, so hopefully he’ll get some reading time in as well.

5. Philbrook Festival

We were supposed to go to Philbrook Festival last week, but alas, sickness happened and we’re rescheduling. Going over Winter Break probably makes more sense anyway.

6. Discovery Lab Day Camp

Several of Discovery Lab’s Winter Break Day Camps are sold out, but (as of Dec. 15), certain camps have spots remaining. I’ve signed Joss up for a couple camps early on in Winter Break, to help make sure the time off gets off to a good, active start.

7. Jolly Town and Downtown Jingle Bus

We’d love to check out Guthrie Green’s new QuikTrip Jolly Town, which opens Dec. 16. It will be open nightly from Dec. 16 to 22. If we visit on a Thursday through Sunday, we’ll try to hop aboard the downtown Jingle Bus as well. Riding around on a bus is always a treat for Joss, and this one is highly decorated with Christmas cheer.

8. Wonka

I just bought tickets to see Wonka at Circle Cinema. Joss has enjoyed both Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie versions, and we even got to see the Broadway version when it came to town – so I’m hoping he will like this “origin story.”

9. Playing Pokémon Games

It wouldn’t be Winter Break – at least for us – without at least some time spent playing Pokémon video games. Thanks to my brother, Joss has several Nintendo DS games to explore, which he’s very excited about. Also, the new Scarlet and Violet DLC just dropped before Winter Break. Although he’s already made good progress on that, hopefully it will continue to provide some entertainment.

10. Tulsa Air and Space Museum

TASM gifted us a membership several weeks ago, and we have yet to take advantage of it. So hopefully we can make some time over the break to do that. They also have daily laser light shows through Dec. 30, which could be fun. I wouldn’t know what to expect, but I’m sure they’re pretty neat!

11. Visit the Library

If I’m on top of things, we’ll pay a visit to a library to check out some books. Joss wants to read the next books in the Inflatables series, so it would be nice to find them there!