Updates below!
Someone on Twitter posted a link to an article on Canadian Family Magazine's website about this neat idea of doing a sort of advent calendar called the 25 days of Christmas. The idea is that for every day until Christmas you do a special activity to make the most of the holiday season.
My kids are still pretty young but my oldest is starting to grasp the whole "Santa brings presents" concept this year so I thought this idea might go a long way in driving home the whole Christmas sentiment of family and togetherness and maybe quell the commercialism of the holiday before it reaches epic proportions in our house.
So without further ado, here's our list activities for our 25 Days of Christmas:
1. Do a Christmas craft together
2. Write and mail a letter to Santa
3. Put up Christmas decorations and enjoy a chocolate treat
4. Take a family portrait in front of the tree
5. Make homemade Christmas cards
6. Write and mail our Christmas cards
7. Watch a holiday show as a family.
8. Make paper chains to decorate the windows.
9. Make a list of ten things we are thankful for. Hang it where you can see it every day
10. Sing Christmas songs and enjoy a special chocolate treat
11. Make a gingerbread house
12. Buy a toy and bring it into pre-school for the toy drive
13. Listen to Holiday music and dance dance dance!
14. Go for a walk in the snow
15. Bake Christmas cookies
16. Wrap presents for teachers
17. Read Christmas stories at bedtime.
18. Make hot chocolate with marshmallows
19. Bake another batch of Christmas cookies to share with friends
20. Play in the snow!
21. Watch some Christmas movies together as a family. Make popcorn!
22. Bake and decorate Christmas cupcakes
23. Do a Christmas craft for Grandma and Grandpa
24. Unwrap one present after dinner (mommy and daddy get to pick which one)
25. It’s Christmas Day. Remember you have a family who loves you. And that’s the most important gift of all.
UPDATE:
Here are our completed envelopes so far!
Day 1 - we coloured a bunch of holiday colouring sheets we printed off the internet
Day 2 - Lily's letter to Santa with a bit of help from mommy!
if you click the letter you can see it enlarged
Day 3 - we decorated the house and put the tree up
Day 4 - a bit of a disaster but here is the best one!
Day 5 - Make Christmas Cards
Day 6 - working on it now...
