Christmas Joys #1

Advent calendars are a great way to help little ones keep track of time in December. Each day they search for a numbered door and behind it they can find chocolate or a little trinket. You can also make your own by numbering small stockings (or mittens, or envelopes) from 1 to 25 and hanging them on a clothesline. You can mark upcoming special events (like a parade or party) by pinning a picture on to the stocking for that day. You can add slips of paper with activities too, instead of treats. A trip to the park or the pet store. An extra book at bedtime. A picnic lunch under the Christmas tree, etc.

This is the advent calender that my mom made and I used growing up. My brother used to wait until bed time to pull his ornament out of it's pocket and put it on the tree. I, on the other hand, always did mine first thing when I woke up. We used to do it every other day. We would draw straws for odd or even days. I always hoped I got even days so I could put the star on top on Christmas Eve.

Now that we have three kids wanting to put the star up, we have a few more things we do daily in December. Each night one of the kids picks a wrapped book from our Christmas book basket. They are all stories about Christmas or winter and we read one each night until Christmas. It's fun to wrap them up so they don't know what book it is until we open it. It adds to the mystery! We also have a little flip book of fun activities like making ornaments or decorating a ginger bread house. We don't always do every activity, but it helps me to remember to do all those fun things with the kids.