Entertainment

7 Things To Do While Waiting For 'Modern Family'

by Caitlin Gallagher

Christmas is coming and the Pritchett-Dunphy-Tucker family wants you to spend it with them. The Modern Family Christmas episode, "White Christmas," will air on Wednesday, Dec. 9, and then Modern Family will take a hiatus. After the ABC series showed reruns for Halloween (it's Claire's favorite holiday!) and Thanksgiving, I'm glad there will be a new episode for Christmas. Yet, just when the Christmas holiday season is shifting into high gear, new episodes of Modern Family disappear. So when will Modern Family be back for the rest of Season 7?

Each season, Modern Family has gone a month-long break around the second week of December. With 24 episodes in each season, this relatively short break in the world of television is nothing to bemoan, but ABC has currently not announced an official date for when new episodes will premiere. Yet, based on the six previous seasons' airdates, Modern Family should return Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016. The Futon Critic confirms my calculations by having Jan. 6 be the first date after Dec. 9 to not have an episode be a rerun.

If you celebrate Christmas like the Modern Family clan does, the four-week break will give you time to enjoy the holiday season on Wednesday nights until January, but it will be hard not to miss your favorite TV family. In the meantime, here are seven things to do while waiting for new Modern Family, based on what the Pritchetts and Dunphys have been up to in Season 7.

1. Drink Away The Pain

Get that glass of white wine ready, because you're going to need lots of it to get over your empty Wednesday nights. And if you want to start hitting the bottle in the afternoon, you know Claire wouldn't judge you.

2. Don't Hold Your Emotions Back

All of the adults learned how to "clean out their junk drawers" and let their inner feelings be heard in the episode appropriately titled "Clean Out Your Junk Drawer." So channel the new emotive Jay and cry about how much you miss new episodes of Modern Family.

3. Get Some Ducklings To Take Care Of

If you find some duck eggs, make a duck village — and then become their surrogate mother like Phil did. (Any abandoned animal eggs will work in this scenario.)

4. Find A Sexy, Sexy House To Break Into

Get cozy with a real estate agent and plan a romantic rendezvous in a house for sale on a Wednesday night. Don't forget the six-pack!

5. Start Dating A Person Infatuated With You

Perhaps not the healthiest or most moral plan, but sometimes you just need a pick-me-up like Alex has been using poor Reuben for.

6. Go To Jury Duty

The government really has the say in whether you will be making your way to the jury box, but if you're anything like Gloria, you'll be real excited to do your duty as a U.S. citizen.

7. Celebrate The Holidays With Your Own Family

Your family probably won't be as funny as the Pritchetts and Dunphys in the episode "White Christmas," but they are real, so that has to count for something this holiday season.

And, once the new year rolls around, you can get back to your regular Wednesday night routine.

Images: Eddy Chen/ABC; peetamelllarks, pottering, charmingass, fymodernfamily, teddywestside/Tumblr; Caitlin Gallagher/Bustle (3)