Countdown to Christmas

Growing up, my brother and I had the classic chocolate Advent calendar. Even as a child I remember thinking the chocolate wasn't very good and I never remembered to open a door every day. It was kind of a little bonus to realize I forgot 3 days and got 3 chocolates in one day! But it didn't really build any excitement. 

Then we had Ginger. At first I was excited for her to have her own cardboard cavity creator calendar.  Then I became "crazy mom" and didn't want her eating chocolate every day so the calendar would get "forgotten"  This year, Big Spender (Daddy) was determined to remind her to open a door every day. So far... well it's only day 4, so... :)

But onto more exciting Christmasy activities:


1. Activity filled (rather than chocolate/toy filled) Advent calendar

Envelope style Advent calendar

2. Open a wrapped Christmas book, every day.

All neatly stacked

I first came across these ideas from Pinterest (of course!).
The first one I saw was this one: http://pinterest.com/pin/82120393174911042/
I though, "Psht, I can make that!" I was sorely mistaken! First, I painted the cardboard instead of covering it with paper - that bit me in the butt later!  Then, I cut my cardboard the wrong size, in proportion to the envelopes. So I glued all the envelopes onto the cardboard and decided to cut the cardboard once they were glued - then I would cut the cardboard to fit.  This was a bad idea because all the paint was flaking around the edge.  I let it be and moved on.  Now I have all my enveloped glued down, all my cards (to write the activities onto) created and I started to decorate the envelopes with numbers. I punched out 24 big circles and 24 little circles and added all the numbers.  As I started to glue all my numbers onto the envelopes, I realized that I only put 20 envelopes on my board!  I didn't need to cut the cardboard - I just can count!  After cursing and staring at the board for 5 minutes, it was tossed into the recycling bin!!!

Now it is November 29th and back to Pinterest I go... I found this idea of using envelopes http://pinterest.com/pin/82120393174956575/.  During this past summer, I received about 100 red and green envelopes and got to work.  I strung a ribbon along the length of our hallway, punched out 24 big circles and 24 little circles and prayed I had enough number stickers to do it all again. I am happy to say that I love it this way!  I was SO simple and it is hard to forget because we walk past it every morning and about 50 times a day!

Coming up with the activities was easier than I thought.  Most of our activities are things we would always do so it was a matter of plugging in the dates.  Wednesday night are really busy for us so i chose activities like "colour a picture" and "drink hot chocolate".  If I can't manage to organize that then I think that is a sign that we are too busy (a valuable concept I learned from Tsh over at www.simplemom.net) I wanted to make really fancy cards (like these: http://letslassothemoon.com/2011/11/21/stock-your-stash-week-2/) to add to the envelopes but it was down to the wire so I just printed them on gold card stock and cut them into strips.  Would you like to see what out December is going to look like?

1. Write a letter to Santa.
2. Visit Santa.
3. Chop down a Christmas tree.
4. Grandma’s Christmas party.
5. Make Christmas cards.
6. Make an ornament.
7. Make hot chocolate and stir with candy canes.
8. Make Christmas gifts.
9. Sleepover at Nanny and Dido’s
10. Family photos.
11. Visit Nanny and Dido.
12. Give toys to those in need.
13. Make Christmas Cookies.
14. Choose a special treat.
15. Call Grandparents and sing a carol.
16. Watch a Christmas movie.
17. Have a camp out in front of the Christmas tree.
18. Sign carols at church.
19. Bake cookies with Grandmama.
20. Make a treat and bring to a friend.
21. Colour a Christmas picture.
22. Go out for a Christmas treat.
23. Build a snowman.
24. Read the story of Jesus’ birth.  Set out cookies and carrots.



94 paper circles later...



My next Pinterest adventure was in the form of books (yea!  http://pinterest.com/pin/82120393174919047/).
The concept was simple and like most things I do, it wasn't ready until the very last minute!
I went online and put 50 Christmas books on hold, with the library. December 1st I received a phone call that I had some items to pick up at the library.  Lo and behold... 21 books! A couple were just to advanced for a 3 and 1 year old so we left with 17. I found 7 more Christmas/wintery books at home and got wrapping!


Temporary home, until the Christmas tree arrives.



A nice collection

No fancy business, just a quick and dirty wrapping job.



I used every scrap I could find!



The only time you can use paper that looks like this!

Day 24: The Grand Finale

Let's just say, Ginger LOVES it!  I am quite impressed with Red's attention span too!  I hope this tradition sticks around!  As I was wrapping though, I wondered how I could transform this tradition when the kids are, say, 10 and 12? hmmm.... I think I have a couple years to enjoy this though!  I will try to do a couple reviews of the Christmas books we found and share with you. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!