Christmas Countdown

Last year we failed miserably at the whole advent calendar thing. I mean sure… so we had a baby, moved, did 3 separate overnight stays in the hospital…

I was so excited about trying again this year! I decided that instead of making all of the events/activities in advance- I would make them up each day as we go along. This has definitely helped us stick to it! Last year I had planned outdoor activities on days when it ended up raining so we just cancelled the whole thing!

Everyday the kids have a little card or envelope with number of days left to Christmas on it that they have find somewhere on the main floor.

Whoever finds it gets to read it out loud.

We started with just a simple announcement of the fun activity for the day. Number twenty-five was a “mini Christmas dinner”. Sadly, the turkey had a funky smell to it and we had to throw it out. SO we ended up having chicken legs with stuffing and cake for dessert!

We played hide and seek in the dark. I carefully wrapped and hid 8 mini boxes of cereal. We went on a late night walk to look at all the Christmas lights. We painted Christmas-coloured nails and had Mario Kart tournaments.

We had movie nights with popcorn, homemade doughnuts, and gingerbread houses.

We went hunting for dog wood and carolling at a senior’s home.

I may have spent the entire carolling time standing out in the hallway with my cranky baby. My little fusspot who then turned into an attention-loving angel after the singing was done…

We had homemade pizza and surprise visitors. I have made up lame riddles leading to the rest of the surprise…

 

Though you found #12

you haven’t found me!

I’m all wrapped up

but not under the tree!

You’ll find me where the drying cloths are,

hurry up now- I’m not a car!

 

Yeah…

My sister was always the poetic one.

The kids got a good laugh out of it and requested more riddles!

When the gingerbread house that we made was finished in one sitting- I thought maybe we should make another one! I made the mistake of bringing all the kids to the store with me and we may have left with the stuff to make an entire gingerbread village…

Not quite sure what Prayer found so hilarious? She finds everything funny…

They decided to make a Christmas scene and use Lego men as people, lightsabers as ski poles, and icing sugar as snow!

I had way too much fun doing this with them!

I don’t have pictures of everything we’ve done, and I’m ok with that. I have been doing these thing with the kids. Thoroughly enjoying each and every event. Cuddles on the couch with hot chocolate late at night may be my favourite.

We haven’t done anything extravagant or expensive. I have spent under $20 in total. Meanwhile, the kids are already asking if we can do this again next year! They wake up every morning excited to see what the days’ event will be. We still have a few surprises up our sleeves… ;)

“If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them, and half as much money on them.”  

~Abigail Van Buren