Advent, Day One

Two years ago I snagged a $60 wood advent calendar at JoAnn's for $5, as I recall.  It's missing three little knobs on the doors, and when I asked if they would discount it, the woman working at the register said, "does $5 sound reasonable?"  Um, yes.



{It's still patiently waiting for me to get some new knobs on there!  One of these days...}

This is the first year we're putting our advent calendar to proper use.  Now that Nell is two and a half, she's definitely old enough to get excited about Christmas coming, and to do so many activities with us.

When I was little, my family had a tradition of making a paper chain for December.  Each night, we'd take a link off the chain and read the number telling us how many days were left until Christmas.  We also often had a special activity for the day.

Remember this family tradition, I decided to do something similar for our advent this year.  I have heard that some people put candies in each box, but we're not big on giving sweets to littles around here {okay, Nathan probably would be, but I'm not, anyway!} and the last thing anyone needs around the holidays is extra chocolate, so I decided on slips of paper, instead.

Each day's door has a slip of paper behind it which Nell will get to take out.  When we read it to her, it'll reveal the day's special activity.  Some of them are the big ones, like getting a tree or going to a service of Lessons and Carols, and others are little things like a craft project, an advent-themed book we'll get out and read, or a cup of homemade cocoa one evening.

Day One was simple: Start listening to Christmas music.  Set up the advent wreath.

Actually, we should have done this on the first Sunday of Advent, which came a day before December began this year.  But with Nathan's 12-hour work day on Sunday, I usually have the kids fed and ready for bed before he ever gets home, so we transferred it to December 1 so we could do it as a family.

Nell is super excited about "Advuhnent."  I am, too!  Stay tuned for more of our advent activities around here.