The holidays are upon us, and it doesn’t really matter what your beliefs are. It’s a time to come together with family and friends, and that means that it’s a sweet time of year.

From our family to yours, we want to ensure that you have everything that you need to enjoy your time together. Family is where life begins and love never ends. And family doesn’t have to be blood. It is who you choose to spend your time with.

And remember. Families are like fudge – mostly sweet with a few nuts sprinkled in to keep things interesting.

 

 

Spending Quality Time Together

We happen to love this time of year because life slows down a bit. Our kitchens are filled with the amazing smell of fresh-baked bread, sugar cookies, and so many other delightful treats. And the kids are usually making a mess on the kitchen table, smearing frosting onto cookies and sprinkling glitter around ornaments.

It’s a messy time, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Every mess and every stain are proof of a life well lived, and many of those memories will live on in the residue of what’s left behind.

“Home is where you are loved the most and act the worst.” ― Marjorie Pay Hinckley

We are growing, too. We can spend quality time with our extended family in Effingham, Kansas. We’re proudly serving Northeast Kansas, ensuring that Sherman Country is growing and expanding. As we said, it’s a sweet time of year.

Regardless of where you spend quality time, be sure that it’s in a place big enough for everyone. There is going to be a lot more fighting if everyone is cramped on top of each other. And if you have to break out the folding chair for grandpa, everyone’s going to pay for that one.

Activities are a must. Keep everyone busy with something. Ensure that everyone has a “chore” to keep them busy so that they don’t start to complain.

If you find that it’s hard to get everyone’s attention, here’s a simple tip: Turn off the house Wi-Fi and watch them all come running. It works every time.

Families Need More Space

Where to Spend the Time

Have you found that there’s never a perfect place to gather everyone? This can always be a challenge around the holidays because there are just so many people.

Living rooms, dining rooms, and other spaces tend to get too crowded.

Too many cooks in the kitchen can be chaotic. When there are too many people in the living room, it can get that way, too.

And while moving the festivities outside sounds like a great idea, Sherman Country can be quite chilly. Kansas has been known to get some snow. And no one wants to be gathering for dinner when there’s a few feet of snow on the ground. Trust us on this, we’ve tried.

Your family tree must be a cactus because everybody on it is a prick.

That’s where we have a solution. From our family to yours, we have a way to create more space without anyone having to spend more time in the cold than they really want to. We have added a pole barn to our property.

You can do the same on your property, and you might be surprised by how quickly they can be constructed.

The great thing about a pole barn is that it can be customized to meet your needs. That includes the overall size, layout, and interior design. It can be a gathering space around the holidays so that there’s room for everyone. And because you can even add a heater, it means that everyone stays cozy without running through your actual living space.

Of course, the pole barn can be used for so much more than a holiday gathering space. We have clients throughout Effingham as well as other parts of Sherman Country who use the barns as ag buildings, toy storage, expanded garages, and even commercial retail spaces.

The possibilities are endless with a pole barn, which is why we’re so happy to introduce them to you.

Family Dinner

It’s Family Time. Stop Complaining!

The moment you tell everyone that you’re going to get together, you might hear a collective groan. Oh, no! Not together time! That’s when you really start to hear what everyone thinks of one another.

Heck, no one sums it up better than Kevin in Home Alone. “I don’t want to sleep on the hide-a-bed with Fuller. If he has something to drink, he’ll wet the bed!”

While we certainly hope there are no bedwetters sleeping with you this holiday season, we do want to make sure you have some of that together time.

Jerry Seinfeld once said, “There is no such thing as fun for the whole family.”

It’s true, though. There’s usually that one person who has to silently (or not so silently) suffer through the “fun” that was planned for everyone.

Stephen King has a son named Joe. I’m not joking, but he is.

The larger your family is, the harder it becomes to find fun for everyone. There tends to be too great of an age group. Once you start mixing in grandkids, grandparents, and even great-grandparents, it will be impossible. Things will be “too loud” or “too boring” to keep a smile on everyone’s faces.

“The other night, I ate at a real nice family restaurant. Every table had an argument going.” It seems George Carlin was familiar with the family dynamic when he made this comment.

Arguments are normal. And while you’d rather not have them around the holidays, they are bound to happen. Especially with in-laws in the picture. You know what they say about the difference between in-laws and outlaws, right? Outlaws are wanted.

We joke. But seriously, the holidays are a special time. And it doesn’t matter whether they are your tribe or your network or your clan. They are your people, and it’s important that you find a way to come together and bond.

The memories you make within the next few weeks will live on in your heart forever. And they may live on with Facebook or TikTok, too, so you better be careful who has a phone in their hands.

Family Photos

Every family has a story to tell. Welcome to ours.

Have fun. Happy holidays. And don’t forget to explore a pole barn so that your holidays can be a bit happier this year and every year hereafter.

Weird Family