My wife likes to live just this side of chaos. Our calendar is blacked out in every square with some meeting, play-date, practice, lesson, committee or appointment. Most of the time, her pandemonium doesn’t involve me. Recently, however, I came home to find her staring intently at the family portrait.

“You know,” she said “we haven’t had a new picture made since Jonathan was an infant.” He turned four last month. I saw the wheels turning, and the next thing I knew, we were all standing on the beach in matching outfits as a photographer positioned us against the dunes in majestic familial splendor. At least that’s what the pictures portray. The chaos was left on the cutting room floor as we tried to harangue three boys and two golden retrievers to be still, sit up, look this way, and fetch the ball in the span of a hundredth of a second.

With the holiday season upon us, the pandemonium has increased exponentially. Now we have to fulfill not only the pre-holiday duties of daily life, but we have school parties, work parties and year-end events to attend.

Because of all this, or perhaps in spite of it, now is the perfect time to carve out a few hours for you. The weather has finally broken out of the oppressive dog days to St. Simons’ best season with cool temperatures and low humidity. I’d like to encourage you to do the same thing I tell my children to do: go outside and play.

For those of you whose past time is golf, get that new hybrid or lob wedge out and enjoy. If you like tennis but haven’t picked up a racquet in a few years, this is the perfect time to give the Coastal GeorgiaTennis League a call. If you need a lesson and are still hauling around that Jimmy Connors Wilson T-200, there are many great pros here. You’ll get the biggest bang for your buck with Ken Thompson since he’ll run you ragged while giving you a history lesson of the Golden Isles.

For those of you who want more reflection and less exertion, a bicycle may be the answer. You can get on the bike paths for a leisurely ride down to the village or even head over to Jekyll where there are miles of lonely bike paths that skirt along the beach and the marsh. End up at the “Rah Bar” at the wharf in the historic district for a barbecue sandwich and beer while the sun sets. You could also charter an inshore fishing trip. With the change in the weather, the specks and reds are hungry to hit whatever you dangle in front of them–be it live shrimp or jig-gin’ an electric chicken. And no, that’s not a 70’s dance craze. Lots of places rent kayaks. Southeast Adventures has a full compendium of tours to explore the bucolic marshes and local waterways while burning off some holiday induced stress.

Whatever you decide to do, this is the month to go outside and play. Try to do it before we get into what I like to call “the casserole season” betweenThanksgiving and New Years.