If your family is like mine, time with everyone together is becoming more and more difficult. We all have crazy schedules, and it's easy to put family time aside for soccer games, school assignments, meetings, chores, and other obligations. Now that some of my children have gone away to college, I realize how fleeting that family time can be, and that there is no substitute for time having fun together, laughing and learning. If you can set aside just one evening a week, with no other purpose than being together, your family will be greatly enriched. You don't need to plan anything fancy. An easy game, or even just some conversation starters over dinner, is enough to build happy memories.

However, sometimes it's hard to think of something to do that works for all age groups and engages everyone. That is the purpose of this book. Included here are some of my family's favorite activities, from silly road trip word games to service projects to cooking contests. Organized by season, these ideas have been tested many times over and continue to bring my family many hours of fun. We play the If/Then game on birthdays, and Thanksgiving wouldn't be the same if we weren't drawing on paper plates on our heads. I hope these ideas help you plan your own family time and bring you many happy memories as well. —from the Introduction