Last year, I posted about some of the Advent ideas I have. This year, I plan to use all three of my Advent calendars. Candy surprises will be in the "calendar" with the little boxes to open daily, I have daily scripture I plan to read each day in the scrapbook-looking calendar, and I'll put little slips of paper in each day's pocket of the hanging calendar with a fun activity for the kids and I to do (some days with Mike) that is Christmas related. I always start out the month of December with great expectations of baking, crafting and visiting fun places, but life tends to successfully get in the way if things aren't on the calendar.
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So I made a list of 25 things I want to do, sat down with my calendar and assigned dates to each activity. I confirmed everything with Mike and now we're set! To get your creative juices flowing, here is our plan:
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Day 1 - Make a Chain Link Countdown to Christmas
Day 2 - Make Peppermint White Chocolate Covered Pretzels
Day 3 - Build a Gingerbread House
Day 4 - Attend "Cookies and Milk with Santa" night at Ryan's school
Day 5 - Go to Home Depot's Kids Workshop to build wagons with Daddy
Day 6 - Grandma's church Christmas kick off event w/ petting zoo and bounce houses
Day 7 - Ice Cream Cone Christmas Tree craft
Day 8 - Go to the $1 Store and let the kids pick out anything they want
Day 9 - Load the kids into the car in PJs with warm cocoa and drive around town looking at Christmas lights
Day 10 - Family Movie Night - "Home Alone"
Day 11 - Take the kids shopping for Christmas gifts for each other
Day 12 - Christmas craft day - make ornaments, candy cane reindeer, look up other ideas on Family Fun's website
Day 13 - Go to the McCormick Train Park
Day 14 - Make homemade Christmas cards for teachers and family
Day 15 - Pick 2 angels from the tree at the mall (each child's age) and have the kids shop for them
Day 16 - Family Game Night
Day 17 - Family Movie Night - "Polar Express"
Day 18 - Go to Glendale Glitters
Day 19 - Christmas camping by the tree
Day 20 - SNOW DAY in Flagstaff!!!
Day 21 - Bake for neighbors including Oatmeal Caramel Bars and Chocolate Oat Bars
Day 22 - "Lunch with Santa" at local shopping center
Day 23 - Bake Sugar Cookies
Day 24 - Bake a birthday cake for Jesus and decorate sugar cookies (our new Christmas Eve tradition from last year)
Day 25 - Read the Nativity story from the Bible
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If you have older kids, there are plenty of service-related activity ideas that will help them get away from the "me, me, me" mentality by seeing others less fortunate. You could volunteer at a soup kitchen, sing Christmas carols at an elderly home, bring cookies to the children's ward of a nearby hospital, buy gifts for a needy family or take sandwiches to an area where the homeless congregate.
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When I was growing up, my mom used to "adopt" an orphan (are they still called that?) for the holidays. They'd come live with us for a few weeks and we'd include them in all of our family activities. I would suggest someone of the same gender as most of your kids and their age or younger. It was a really cool experience.
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Do you have any additional activity ideas for December? 
Sunday, November 29, 2009
25 Days of Christmas - Our Family's Calendar
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8 comments:
I just wanted to say I LOVE LOVE your blog! This is something I have wanted to do the last year or 2 and didn't know where to start. I am going to make my own list and start some fun traditions with the kids!
Thanks for reminding me to get the advent calendar out tonight! We got a wooden one with teensy little drawers in it, and I've come up with an idea I'm THRILLED to try!
Each day there will be a coin (maybe two) in the drawer. For his Sinterklaas present tonight, he's getting a cheap little $2 piggy bank. Then from tomorrow, every day when he opens the advent calendar and gets a coin, he'll put it in the piggy bank. After Christmas, we'll take him shopping to a toy store and say 'Have at it! Run riot and pick ANYTHING out you want and can afford!' We're pretty sure he'll go nuts, as we've never done anything even close to that before.
So we're killing lots of birds with one stone.
1. Saving ourselves the trouble of (for one present) choosing something we THINK he'd like. We'll still spend the same amount of money on presents, just put him in the driving seat for one of them.
2. Starting to teach him the value of money; when he gets to the store and wants three things but can only afford two, he'll begin to learn how to prioritize.
3. Giving him some control over decisions.
4. Setting up an annual tradition. (although when we live in the States eventually, we'll have to switch coins for bills on a few days, as Christmas gifts are hard to come by for under $12!)
I'm really excited to try this! With both christmas and Sinterklaas here, candy is in total overdrive, so I was trying hard to avoid that. I think we've come up with something that will be fun, sugar-free, and still within budget. Bring it on!
xoxoxoxoxoxo
i usually do this every year too, it is getting a little harder with the kids gettign bigger and so many activities i try to tie them all in but there is always something i forget. i think this year i will list them and each day i will pick something. great ideas thanks!
Forgive my pregnant brain ... in point #4 I meant we'd have to give bills because it's hard to find Christmas gifts under $6, not $12. I momentarily thought that a quarter was worth 50cents, not 25. Oh help!
How about the Christmas play at Phoenix First? I think I remember you blogging about it last year.
We did that last year and LOVED it. Even Kaiden loved it and was able to sit still for most of the production. A sure feat for a 14 month old at the time.
We are definitely getting tickets this year and going to find a babysitter for Madelyn.
Love the list...we will be implementing some of the same things this year since Kaiden is starting to "get" the whole Christmas, Jesus, Santa deal.
Blessings...
Thought I would let you know that there is a Living Nativity show in Anthem at a local church near my house.
The website is: http://www.canyonchurch.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=144&Itemid=106
If you get off of the 17 at Daisy Mountain and turn right. Take a Right on Meridian and it is right there on the corner. Maybe an idea for your 25 days of Christmas!
We started doing the activities for the month of December last year. The kids - both teenagers and toddlers loved it and looked forward to it each day. We are doing some similar activities. One we're repeating (and got requested from the teenagers) was simply playing hide and seek. I enjoyed that one too!
I found a website that gives you activies, poems, crafts and a theme for everyday until Christmas. I was going to add in some of these ideas to my list. Thought I would share!
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/advent_calendar_2009_americas.htm
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