We’ve decided to get rid of our cable for the summer…and possibly beyond (we’ll see how summer goes first). The cable box will be leaving the building sometime later this week. This won’t be our first time without cable. Far from it actually, but we have had it for the last couple of years, so it will be an adjustment again. It was so nice to have TV when Baby D was little and I would hold him for hours as he napped, unable to move for fear of him waking up. Now that he is getting older, he keeps us incredibly busy. We really don’t have too much time for TV. I’m looking forward to all of the family fun and adventures that we’ll be taking as we start living with a little less distraction.
No one ever said that television is good for you, but we enjoy it, and there’s nothing wrong with letting ourselves get sucked in from time to time…just maybe not daily for a while. And besides all of the social/family benefits of taking a TV break, cable is just expensive. We are on probably the cheapest basic cable plan in existence and we can still save $60+/month by cutting it. That’s over $700 a year! If I had to pay $700 up front for the handful of channels that I actually watch on a regular basis, I don’t know if I would be able to sign on the dotted line.
Out of this decision to cut the cable, a new family challenge was born… The Dinner and a Movie Challenge! We own so many movies that we haven’t watched in years, so we’ve decided to attempt to watch all of our movies this summer. And to make the challenge even more fun, we’ve decided to take a good number of these movies and cook a themed meal to go with them. Maybe some ratatouille, french baguette, and cheese for watching Ratatouille…salad for When Harry Met Sally…or Chicken Tikka Masala for the one Bollywood movie that we own.
The possibilities are endless and we’re excited to get our creative juices flowing to plan fun, tasty menus for our favorite flicks. We hope that you will enjoy these little features and that maybe you might feel inspired to try a few themed Dinner and a Movie nights with your own family. And if you do take the challenge, let us know in the comments what dinner/movie combos you dream up!
