Christmas Countdown Calendar

Eben grew up celebrating the tradition of Advent, which is a name for the season before Christmas. Advent is focused on waiting and anticipation, and there are different ways of marking the time in different traditions. In Eben's family, the usual form was a nightly advent ceremony in which the family gathered to do a scripture reading, light a candle, and sing a particular carol assigned to each of the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas.

One thing I always looked forward to was the "advent treats" Eben's family would serve after the ceremony. Others may be familiar with a similar tradition of treats for each day leading up to Christmas from the paper calendars popular at this time of year which have a chocolate behind each numbered door, counting 1 to 25. I am a sucker for these fun ways of making the season special, but this year, we were looking for a non-food version of the "advent treat" to enjoy.

So last weekend while Grandma Nikki was visiting, used holiday-themed catalogs and junk mail from our recycle bin to make our own quick version of the conventional chocolate advent calendar. Instead of candy behind each door, every pocket on our calendar has a slip of paper with an activity listed. Some of them are things from our "real" family calendar (such as "Sing in the Mount Olive Christmas Program" or "Meet Reese for breakfast with Santa in downtown Santa Monica." Others are fun holiday activities like "visit a Christmas tree lot" or "bake gingerbread men." Monroe also has many special Christmas books & toys that I kept packed away all year, so some of the days involve getting out a new Christmas book or toy and reading or playing with it.

I approached this project rather casually and just make quick work of putting it together with whatever we had. So when I only had space and materials for 18 pockets, I decided just to make the calendar go to 18. That happens to be the day our Christmas travels begin, so I figured the last instruction could simply be "fly on an airplane for Christmas visiting" and we'd leave the calendar at home. It's unorthodox, but hey--so is my little kooky little family!