Advent Calendar

Although it's not quite December, Thanksgiving has passed and we can officially get ready for Christmas.  I had been on the hunt for a wooden Advent Calendar, the kind with 24 little doors or drawers, perfect for stashing pieces of chocolate.  I never found what I was looking for, but did stumble across the idea for an Envelope Advent Calendar, where each envelope contains an activity for the day.  Chris and I think this will be a nice tradition for the boys, because it encourages us to do something fun and festive together as a family each day leading up to Christmas.  And the set-up of the calendar is something I can pull off easily despite having few crafting supplies and even less talent or creativity.  With a clothesline and clothespins, a box of small white envelopes, a sheet of labels to print the template of numbers onto and some note cards, I'm set.

Chris and I brainstormed as many toddler-friendly ideas as we could and wrote them out on note cards.  (Including a picture representing the activity would have been nice since Oliver can't read yet.)  Some of the activities we are planning to do anyway, like pick out a Christmas tree, and others are just fun and simple, like eating a Christmas cookie for afternoon snack instead of one of the usual healthful options.  Planning the Advent Calendar made us think about how to instill the fun of the Christmas season with other activities Oliver would like to do.  And it gets us to plan and commit.  It's easy to come up with ideas and then not go do them. 

Some of the activities Oliver has to look forward to in December:

• Pick out Christmas tree
• Decorate the Christmas tree
• Have a snowball fight
• Build a fort
• Build a snowman.
• Bake gingerbread cookies
• Visit Santa
• Take a drive to see Christmas lights
• Read Christmas stories
• Go sledding
• Eat a Christmas cookie for snack
• Open one present early
• Decorate Christmas cards
• Paint a picture of a snow scene
• Shop for a present for Soren
• Make a Christmas ornament
• Go to the zoo
• Help Mom wrap Christmas presents
• Attend Christmas cookie exchange
• Watch How The Grinch Stole Christmas
• Bring a green and red ball to swimming lessons
• Visit the Night Train exhibit at the Twin City Model Railroad Museum
• Skype with a relative we don't see often
• Sing Christmas carols

To keep the activities as flexible as possible, we won't put a note card in an envelope until the night before.  We noticed we have a lot activities that require there to be snow, but if the ground stays barren, those activities will be recycled until next year.