At Home Date Night

As soon as the weather got cold and we weren't taking Oliver on his nightly walks anymore, Nate and I realized we weren't getting a chance to really talk and connect as much as we had been.  On those daily walks we were able to talk about our day, how work was going, how Ollie was doing, etc.  As soon as we stopped going on those walks, we kind of went into hibernation mode - suddenly our evenings became, get Ollie ready for bed, get our dinner ready and then pretty much crash in front of the TV without really talking much. 

It's hard, we're both tired at the end of a long work day and while it sounds bad, sometimes we need that time to unwind to something mindless like a show we enjoy.  And we do a good job on the weekends of going out and doing things as a family and spending lots of time together, but we started to find we were missing the time we had to connect with each other on those nightly walks.  So we came up with a new tradition.  On Mondays we have an "At Home Date Night" after Oliver goes to bed.

I love this new tradition.  We sometimes do something super simple like a wine and cheese night. Sometimes we have some kind of Italian dish that we enjoy.  Or there's even been weeks where we pick up fried chicken from the grocery store, but we still sit at our table and enjoy each other's company while we eat it!  Our rule is neither of us can look at our phones at all.  It's been wonderful and it actually makes me look forward to Mondays right now!

I love when we can get a babysitter and go out for an actual date night too, but for right now this is an easy and relatively inexpensive way for us to keep our relationship strong and keep us connected to each other.  I plan on keeping this going even after the weather is nice out and we're going on those nightly walks again.  It's our special time and I wouldn't trade it for anything.  
What do you do to keep your relationship fresh and fun?