Shall we get rid of the TV?

I have just come back from a week of late “Summer Sun”. We had a lovely time, lots of r & r and the kids enjoyed playing on the beach and in the pool at the hotel.

Towards the end of the holiday, my husband and I reflected on the fact that we seemed to be going to bed quite early each night and having at least 8 hours sleep. As a result we were feeling that the break had truly recharged our batteries.

So what’s stopping us from adopting these habits when returned home? Our first reaction to this question was that most nights we stayed up watching TV. My hubbie posed the question “Are we addicted to the TV?”. I then boldly suggested “Should we get rid of the TV?”

But before we leapt to any further drastic (!) conclusions, we spent some time analysing what we did most evenings. There are two key things that my husband and I have in common: 1) Food; 2) A love for Great American Drama (Fringe, Surface, Without a Trace, Lost, TrueBlood, Lie to Me, Brothers and Sisters, CSI and CSI NY, Bones......etc) which are religiously recorded on our Sky+ Boxes.

At home each night we usually have about two hours together. In that time, I cook a meal from scratch, we discuss the news from the working day, any gossip from our friends and family and then indulge in one of our favourite past-times: the GAD.

We realised that when we were on holiday all our food was prepared for us; we weren’t in constant contact with friends and family so had little news to share, and we didn’t have the frustrations & challenges of the working day to debate. Instead we had 14 hours every day for a whole week to enjoy each other’s presence – not two precious hours. On holiday, we didn’t have to stay up late just to grab some time together. And that's why I love holidays - spending time with the ones I love the most and the opportunity to reflect on life in general.

So now we’re back home and soon the holiday will fade away into a fond memory with some lovely pictures of the kids on the beach. Meanwhile, tonight we’re back to home cooked food & two Sky+ boxes full of GAD to watch. Which one will it be? .......think it’ll have to be In Treatment.