Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Advent Time

I love counting down the days to Christmas. I grew up with the chocolate door advent calendar like this one.
My mom used to buy us one each year and then continued buying them for my children.

My sisters made chains out of construction paper with activities written on each day.
Their kids loved this and it gave us all a reason to get together as much as possible throughout the month.

Another fun tradition my mom did for us was to wrap all of our Christmas books so we could unwrap one each night. I have continued this one and I was even able to inherit a few of the books I loved when I was little.

The Christmas before my mom passed away she bought us the story of the Elf on the Shelf or "Mr Elf" as we like to call him. The kids absolutely love this one. Mom?? Not so much. It's hard to remember every night. But it is nice to have when the kids are misbehaving. "Mr. Elf is watching you:)"

Here are a couple other fun decorations that Jane loves to count down each morning.


Santa slowly falls down the chimney. How cute is that??

Last year my sister-in-law Erica made this board for me. Like the chain, there are fun activities and ideas to do with the kids for each day of the month. There is also a little treat inside each one. Last year we were brand new to Indiana (I think we moved in December 1st) so this board saved my life and gave the kids and myself something to look forward to each day.

Yesterday (December 1) we colored a christmas picture for the activity.



Tonight (December 2) we will read a Christmas story. This is one we do anyway.


Hopefully this month will go by fast for the kids. It's so hard to wait for Santa Claus to come. I hope it goes by slow for me. It is so fun to have little ones for Christmas. It is all so magical to them. I want to savor every moment.

7 comments:

Erica said...

I love that you do so many count downs- I wanted to make another avent calendar but wondered if it would be silly. However- it looks like so much fun!!! Plus all the kids could rotate which one they got to do.

jenn said...

Such fun memories. Not so fun when they grow up, but really they still love all the kid's stuff. Enjoy every moment and write it all in your blog so we can share. Especially for those of us who miss "my babies."

Debbie said...

The best thing Kathy and i ever did was the different country advent calendar that was in the Friend. We all did it and it was so fun. That is where we got the Swedish Cake recipe.
We went to dinner with your Dad and Roe (the old neighborhood)and it was fun. We laughed about you and Kami. Christmas with little ones is the BEST.

Dawn said...

I have the Different Country Advent Calendar Debbie! I have shared it with many. Lots of work though!

I love to see your kids with huge smiles!! They look so happy! They are magical still. I miss all the parties. Although we have had a lot lately, they haven't been Christmas inspired. I love the traditions Mom helped create. I miss her.

kami @ nobiggie.net said...

I agree with you that it is so fun to have little ones anticipating Christmas. It makes it fun for us. That's good to know about the Elf book, I really wanted one last year, but I bought these little Elves on sale after Christmas last year(minus the book kit). so I probably won't buy it.

Lauren said...

Cute countdowns. Thanks for all the good ideas.

Kelli @ writing the waves said...

Can we come to your house for C-mas? This could totally be a "Fishful Thinking Thursday" post, Amanda. All about creating and savoring those special moments. You are way ahead of me! I need to get my rear in gear. We do have our tree decorated at least. I love all these activities & ideas. A friend of mine just told me about the book one yesterday. So cool.

Great post! Thanks for sharing. :)