Advent Calendar Fun

I am so excited about this Christmas season!  This year, my two year old is starting to understand more of what is going on.  It has been so much fun watching him ask us to turn on the Christmas lights, plus he has already learned to sing Jingle Bells.  The constant threat of him knocking over the tree is not so much fun, but whatever...

I decided this year to make an Advent calendar, as I thought Sully would enjoy it, and I also like the

idea of incorporating the more liturgical aspects of Christmas as well as the festive.

So, I did what was only natural, I checked out Pinterest.  Fun ideas for Advent calendars abound, and I got some great inspiration.  I originally planned to knock off a Pinterest post and create a calendar out of my mini-cupcake pan, until I considered the fact that I only have one mini-cupcake pan, and I'll probably need it over the next 24 days.  So...forget that!

I then realized that I have an over abundance of small boxes in my craft stash, and a lot of fun paper. So I came up with the plan to wrap 24 different boxes for each day of the Advent season.  This is the easiest Advent calendar ever because then you just stick the boxes under the tree.  I like the thought of a Sully's first gift unwrapping experience being about something other than toys or candy.  I also like that each box will be labeled with a number, so he can practice counting while having fun!  Lastly, we've been working a lot on "waiting" and "patience," so I'm hoping opening just one box a day while leaving the others will be a good activity.

 So, I gathered all the boxes and compiled all my pretty holiday paper, and got to work.

First, I wrote down 24 fun holiday things to do.  Some of them are purely festive like "Watch a holiday movie tonight," while others try to incorporate the true meaning of Christmas, like, "Pray for someone in need today."  I was sure to throw a few fun activities for the whole family, like "Have a festive cocktail tonight"!

Then, I wrapped each activity up in festive paper.  A few I made into pretty cards which I hid in our tree.  Sully (and Mr. Sugar Dish) will have to find the gift each day labeled with the appropriate number, unwrap it, and we'll then have fun as a family completing the activity!

I'm hoping this will become a great family tradition, and one of Sully's first Christmas memories.  So far we're off to a good start.  Yesterday, we opened box number one, which said "Take a walk and hug a neighbor!"  So we set off in our double stroller and went for a stroll.  Today, the card said "Kiss someone you love," and we all know this mama loves any excuse to get extra sugar...