1. Regular Phone Calls
By talking regularly to each other, you share news, but more importantly, you listen to your sister’s voice. Her tone tells you if she is tired, stressed, bursting with bottled-up news, or pissed off. How she is talking is usually more important than what she is saying and would not be relayed in a text.
2. Writing Letters
This may be a bit old-fashioned, but I love it when I receive a letter in the mail. Letters take time to write and are, therefore, more thoughtful. Also, when you receive a letter, you know the writer took the extra time to think about you, so you automatically feel special.
3. Sister Day
Sitting down face-to-face is extremely important. Usually, our sister days only consist of having breakfast or lunch together and spending a few short hours chatting. Talking about kids, jobs, spouses, stressors, and good news allows you to stay involved with each other. Teasing each other over habits and laughing over silly little things will keep you close.
4. Girls’ Night In
Having a girls’ night in can be the most fun way to stay connected to your sisters. It’s easy to accomplish a fun, sharing atmosphere. All you need are a few bottles of wine, snacks, and various hair, nail, and skin products. Sisters take care of each other, and the night is about creature comforts and sharing. Enjoy the evening before heading back to your own family, or make a sleepover of it and have breakfast together in the morning.
5. Family Dinners
This is an opportunity for all of your families to get together over a simple meal. Not only do you visit with your siblings and parents, but your children get to visit and play with their cousins. Cousins playing together is important for them to develop relationships with their family and to make friends.
Family dinners can take place once a month, and rotating the hostess distributes hosting responsibilities to everyone evenly. It is best to plan a simple meal and have each sibling contribute to the meal. Family dinners are a recreation of your family dinners as a child, and they help to keep your family ties close.