In years prior, we filled each day with one piece of candy to count down the days until Christmas. It always brought excitement because candy is pretty limited in this house, so to get a piece (a Hershey's kiss or Tootsie roll ) everyday was cause for celebration.
This year, I decided to do something different. I have seen numerous ideas and suggestions online for doing activities instead of getting candy. On every day before Christmas, you do something special to celebrate the season.
I love this idea.
Even though Matt and I grew up in religious households, we haven't quite found our "calling" (bear with me) to start attending church, to tell our children the stories we learned growing up or to teach them about the real reason Christians celebrate Christmas. This year is a little different.
Gabe has started getting more curious, wanting to know more and more about religion. At his school, there is the option to go to Bible Club and miss a recess. A lot of his friends go to Bible Club and bring their bibles to school. Gabe doesn't really know what to make of this. They tell him about the birth of Jesus and other stories from the Bible. He has asked for a Bible for Christmas so he can read it and learn more about what his friends are telling him.
I am glad he is taking interest in this. I want him to believe in something bigger than this world, that there is a larger plan in place and that we need to put others before ourselves. Matt and I decided when we first talked about raising our kids that we would let them decide for themselves, if they chose to get baptized and accept Jesus as their Savior then that would be their choice and it wouldn't be forced on them.
With that in mind this holiday season, I decided to research different advent calendar activities to do every day before the 25th. There are A LOT out there. I have included my Pinterest board at the bottom full of great ideas! After making my list, I realized I couldn't make all of them donations or with giving in mind, I just don't have time to be running donations all over town or bringing kids to and from different events every day. The best part of this is idea is that you can make it whatever you want. For our family, I combined some donation ideas, outside activities, art projects and "field trips."
Here is our list!
Catch
snow in a bucket
Water
color the snow
Paint
snowflakes on the windows
Cut
out snowflakes
Make
paper stockings
Family
board game Night
Make
a Santa Beard in a bubble bath
Snowman
Soup
Polar
Express Story time
Write
letters to Santa
Make
Cookies for the Neighbors
Watch
a Christmas movie with
Sprinkly Popcorn
Take
a Picture with Santa Claus
Read
the Story of Jesus
Read
the Night before Christmas
Make
Popsicle Stick snowflakes
Have
cookie cutter pizzas for dinner
Sort
through toys to donate
Make
Christmas cards for relatives
Drive
around to see Christmas lights
Decorate
paper bags for the
Children’s Food Bank
Go
to a Hockey game!
Glue
cotton balls on Santa’s Beard
Blow
bubbles in the snow
I printed these out and put arranged them inside our Advent calendar in the order of events I already had planned or based on traditions (like reading The Night Before Christmas on the 24th). Some of these we have done before but I included a lot of new ideas and the kids have really enjoyed every day.
Cutting snowflakes out of coffee filters:
Catching snow in a bucket (or on your tongue):
Sort through toys to donate:
Take a picture with Santa Claus:
Make a Santa beard in a bubble bath:
Every day brings something different and it has been a lot of fun doing this activities and well as planning them! What do you and your family do to celebrate the season?
Don't forget to pin this and save my ideas for your Christmas Advent activities!
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