Ok, I know...Halloween and Thanksgiving haven't even passed and here I am posting about Christmas. It's because if most people are like our family then Christmas is a fine tuned orchestral number. The budget, the family, the traditions, and the traveling all perfectly in tune with each other...all while keeping our two year old happy and away from the foot stompin', high pitched whinin', terrible two behavior that makes anyone want to drive off a bridge on a good day. Due to that I wanted to give everyone some time to get things together without the hectic-ness. That said, We are trying to teach Monkey at a young age that Christmas is not just about gifts and Santa and awesome cookies but also about Christ's birth and sacrifice. It's about recognizing what we have and being grateful for it as well as spreading the joy of the season and the love of Christ. I researched advent calendars for about two weeks straight and found so many wonderful ideas. Ultimately though to accommodate my family and where we are at in life this is what I landed on...
Everyday was planned based on the day of the week and our paycheck. Obviously some things cost more money than others. I am in the process of writing each day out on a cute Christmas themed post card and putting it in an envelope with the corresponding number. Since we want these things to be our family traditions I can reuse the cards and envelopes in the future and just swap out the days they belong to!
Next comes the fun part. Some days require objects to achieve that days mission. I'm collecting those now and wrapping them as I go. It gives me a chance to set the tone of our Christmas decorating from the start, have something extra to decorate the house with, and provides my Hubby (who is a permanent child in this area) something to open!
Once December 1st comes Hubby and Monkey can open the letter to see what we are doing and then off to the adventure! As things get closer I will post pictures to go with but for now I'm in the early phases.
However, as promised (drum roll please...) here is the list!
Happy (Early) Holidays!
Jules
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