I wasn't crazy about Christmas when I was younger. Well, I might have been when I was very young, but (for reasons I won't get into) it lost it's sparkle somewhere along the way and unfortunately my disdain for the holiday only grew into my teen years. (As a side note, I could have chosen a better attitude regardless of my "reasons", but I didn't.) So as cheesy as it may sound to some of you, I'm so grateful that God used Jason coming into my life to help change that. Its been 12 years since I've chosen to look for and embrace the joy of the season, and there's no going back! ;)
So now that we're married, creating family traditions for us to share with our children carries a lot of meaning and brings a lot of joy to my heart. One of the things I love about family traditions is that they hold the promise of forever. While it's true that we don't know how long we have in this life, we can commit ourselves to a lifetime of using the time we have to celebrating together as a family. And family traditions are a fun reminder to our children of the commitment we've made. Another thing I love about family traditions is that they have the potential be be happy memory makers.
So this year when I discovered a new tradition to introduce to our family...I was so excited!!! I saw this on (where else?) Pinterest and completely fell in love with the idea:
While (in recent years) I have loved counting down to the big day, I never really loved the little boxes you buy at the grocery store, especially since the ones they make now count down to New Years Day. (In our house the kids don't care so much about New Years but they get very excited about Christmas, so counting down to New Years isn't quite as much fun.)
So, after looking around online I found some bags on Etsy. They arrived (much to my delight!) on friday and J and I set it up this morning (no peeking was allowed) after I filled them on the weekend.
I also discovered another idea that I absolutely loved for filling our advent! And that is not only filling our advent with treats but activities! After looking around at a few different websites, I compiled my personal favourites and typed them out in Word. In case you're curious, here's what we're doing this year:
Have a family game night.
Go ice-skating.
Put nativity set on display.
Bake some Christmas cookies.
Decorate a gingerbread house.
Choose something from Samaritans Purse or World Vision to buy together as a family.
Go visit Santa downtown.
Drive around and look at neighbourhood Christmas lights.
Fill the dining room with candles and turn on some Christmas music for dinner.
Go Christmas carolling.
Pop some popcorn, make some hot chocolate and watch a favourite Christmas movie!
Read a favourite Christmas story. (twice)
Put up a Christmas wreath on the front door.
Play a game of road hockey.
Make some fancy hot chocolate and snuggle up by the fireplace sharing favourite Christmas memories.
Go to the grocery store and buy food to be given to the food drive.
Fill the dining room with candles and turn on some Christmas music for dinner.
Make paper snowflakes.
Call grandma and sing Jingle Bells. Call grandpa and do the same!
Make paper snowflakes.
Mystery activity.
Make Apple Cider, grab a plate of cookies and have a Christmas family movie night.
Make some homemade pizza and have a Christmas family movie night.
It’s Christmas morning…it’s time to open your stockings!!!
I made a calendar in Word and planned activities based on how much time was available each day. That's why some activites are so quick, like put up a Christmas wreath on the front door. Most days have five treats I picked up at the Bulk Barn with Rebecca (it was her idea to go there, which was brilliant I might add, since I could count out the exact number for each day I needed). I left out treats on the days that involve something sweet in the activity.
I also found the story of the birth of Christ (divided into 25 day segments) and put them into Word as well. Once I had the activities and verses in Word, I printed out one page of the verses as a test to make sure they would fit in my little 3x5 bags (Jason's idea, which is no big surprise...he's a planner). After I had the right fit, I cut them out and glued them onto red and green cardstock (red for the verses, green for the activities), cut those out and then laminated them (the laminator was a birthday present from my mom) and then cut them out one more time. Here's what it looked like:
And here's what it looks like now that it's all hung up:
I can't wait for the first of December!!! :)
What are your family traditions? Are you (like us) beginning any new ones this year?
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