Advent Activities

This was the first year that Owen really “got” Christmas so I wanted to make it a special month.  Also, I’d been doing a lot of laying on the couch so I wanted to try and redeem his October and November months of TV time.  :) 

The first thing that we did everyday was open one holiday/winter/Christmas book.  I had a large stash from my classroom, but I plan on adding one or 2 new ones each year we do this.  Yes, I’ll re-wrap the books every year.

Next, I hung up two red ribbons using command hooks.  I glued red numbers onto white paper crafts bags for en easy Advent countdown.  Inside each bag was a piece of paper with an activity on it.  Many times, I didn’t fill the bag until that morning so I could adjust our activity depending on our schedule.  In 3 or 4 of the bags, there was a small treat or present too but I tried to focus on activities.  I had bought some game/toy things last year on clearance and I did the same thing this year so I have a few things ready to go when December rolls around again.I made my own little decorated papers for inside, but here are two cute printable sheets of activities to save you time if you want to do this next year.  HERE and HERE.
Here is a list of everything we did for the 25 days.  Some have pictures. :)

1. Make a Christmas paper chain countdown.
2. Decorate our door like a snowman
3. Decorate little trees for each of your rooms
4. Make an ornament for your tree (beaded candy cane)
5. Decorate a gingerbread house (this was a big fail)
6. Sing and dance to Christmas songs
7. Christmas ring toss game (bought last year on clearance)
8. Make a bird feeder
9. Watch a Christmas movie
10. Go to the live nativity
11. Go somewhere new – Soccer Planet!
12. Have hot cocoa with whip cream and sprinkles
13. Make a paper nativity
14. Make salt dough ornaments
15. Decorate the windows
16. Play outside and make a snowman
17. Bake Christmas cookies
18. Make snow ice cream
19. Choose three of your toys and give them away.
20. Date night with Mom!
21. Deliver gifts to neighbors
22. Drive to Grandma and Grandpa’s house!
23. Open presents!
24. Go to Christmas Eve Service and drive by lights on the way home.
25. It’s Christmas!

Each day we also had a little advent calendar (that we got from my in-laws) that has a little part of the Christmas story.  We’d read the little book and hang it on our tree.  As we took down our bags, we hung up the Christmas cards that started to roll in: Let me know if you have any other good ideas for our advent countdown next year.  It was such a fun way to get them excited for Christmas!

Christmas {part 3}

It was our first Christmas Eve and Christmas without anywhere to go which was fun!  On Christmas Eve, we went to the 3 o’clock service at church.  Here were the cute shirts I made for the kids.  Owen’s was made using vinyl and Ellie’s is made with ribbons glued on.  Owen didn’t want to pose at home: I printed off some Christmas activity pages for the kids (and the DeAtley boys) in case they got bored in the service. Here are all the boys in red:

And here’s how Owen ended the service (just like last year):We drove home and looked at some Christmas lights and had a great dinner.  Each kiddo got to open one gift too.  Then the rest were saved for the morning! Some of Owen’s favorite toys were Peppa Pig and George, some Automoblox, and several duplo sets.  Ellie loved her new tent, bracelets, and princess Duplo set.  Sam’s family also gave us their trampoline which was a huge hit:

We spent Christmas in our pajamas playing with all the new toys.  What a great holiday season.  Here’s a closing shot of all the cards we got.  Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Christmas {part 2}

This year, most everyone (minus Jenna) was able to gather for Christmas at my parents house, just a bit earlier than on the “real” day.  On Friday, December 20th, William took the afternoon off for our gender ultrasound.  We took the kids with us since we would be leaving from there to head to Peoria. After getting the exciting news (more on that in another post), we headed to my parent’s house.  They opted for a non-traditional tree this year and last and I love it! We have a yearly tradition in our family to do a fondue dinner every Christmas Eve.  So on Saturday we got out everything ready. Check out these vintage fondue pots: The kiddos only lasted for a few minutes into dinner, but the adults had a lovely time.  Blurry picture, but the flash one was terrible.After a very yummy dinner, my dad did his traditional telling of the Christmas story.  He also gives each of us the next chapter in his book “Thing I Wish My Father Had Told Me.”  He reads it to us and we all cry. Then we go around and share something we are thankful for this year and something we’re looking forward to in the next year.
Finally, the kiddos got to do what they were itching to do – open gifts!  My mom spoiled them rotten! Sunday morning, we got to go the Peoria Vineyard which is always a fabulous time! My cutie: I could not love this picture anymore of Ellie and her Grandpa. It was such a wonderful weekend with our family!

Christmas {part 1}

There’s so much to write about for Christmas this year, I’ll need to break it down into several posts.  First, here’s just a little of the decor we did this year: On Sunday, December 15th I put the kiddos in their fancy x-mas outfits so we could get 2 wears out of them, one here and one in Peoria.  Owen and his Sunday school class came in and sang one song in “big church.” Not a bad family picture of all 5 of us. :)