Just spent the night camping in the back yard with my 5 year old (well he was five in 1997) son Benjamin. We live in the suburbs on a relatively small block of land, so our back yard is about 20m wide by about 12m deep.

We set up a a-frame tent and lit a fire (with the flint and steel of course) in an old BBQ bowl nearby. Ben helped my collect the wood, cut it up stack it neatly. We made some more charred cloth, toasted marshmallows and drank hot chocolate (coffee and tea for me). My wife and 2 younger daughters came out for a while too - to enjoy chatting round the fire.

Then it was time for bed. We played eye-spy by the light of a (FCF) candle for a bit and then prayed and drifted off to sleep.

In the morning I got up and relit the fire and waited for Ben to stir.

I showed him how it was good to lie on your tummy with your arms resting on your pillow looking at the fire. We cooked sausages and eggs for breakfast.

On reflecting now I realise that we so often put off things because we don't have the time. You know the line: "We can't (insert activity) - we've got to go out to (insert venue)"

But we can have some much fun, and spend time with our families - in doing simple things - like camping out the back.

It was wonderful watching Ben model the way I sat, the way I toasted a marshmallow, the way I lay in my sleeping bag etc. I would have missed that if we hadn't taken the time to do something a little silly - like camp in the back yard - complete with fire! Our kids and wives/husbands are often screaming out (silently) to spend time with us.

In Rangers our families can often suffer. We get so busy doing the work that we can so easily forget our kids and our wives/husbands.

Why not make one of your new year resolutions this "I will take opportunities to spend time with my family and kids, just by ourselves - even when it seems impractical or silly"