first week of the christmas advent

this year, i decided to do something a little different to help us have more meaningful family time, count down the days until christmas, and get in all the fun things i want to do (with as little stress as possible!).  so far, it's going really well, and i'm really happy that i did it.

instead of a traditional advent calendar with treats or little toys or something like that, what i did was number envelopes from 1 to 24.  i hung them each, with a clothespin, on this decoration i had made a few years ago to hold christmas cards.  originally i was just going to string some ribbon up, and clothespin the envelopes to that, but then i remembered i had this already cute and made.  perfect!

each envelope has a piece of paper inside with an activity for the day.  some are things we would have been doing anyway, some are really easy, and some take a little bit of work.  none of them cost any money (except saturday's one, but i think that's the only one), and most only take a few minutes to do.  the weekends will have activities around our area, that we like to attend.  the weekdays are more of the low-key activities.  what's really great about this method, is that if something comes up, and i need to change things around, all i have to do is take out the paper and put in a new one.  i'm all about keeping it simple.  and, speaking of keeping it simple, you might be thinking that this sounds like more work.  it's not!  for me anyway, i love lists and organizing my time, activities, closets, my brain - pretty much anything!  this helps me feel a lot more organized, and less worried about when everything will get done.  for example, one of the activities is to make christmas cookies.  something i would have felt the need to do anyway, but now i have a specific day to do them, and it will (hopefully) be a fun family activity.  so, no worrying in the back of my mind about when to get them done.  i guess what i'm saying is that i love having my month planned out.  the kids love it too.  it's a little surprise every morning when they get to open a new one.

tuesday was the first, and we started by getting the christmas decorations up.  usually this is a stressful, 3 day process.  crazy, i know.  i acted like i'd have to live with it for years, instead of for a few weeks.  i'm a little weird like that. :)  this year, though, i let go a little.  dave and the kids did the tree without me, while i did the other decorations.  that way i could just put everything out, while they got the tree up.  it's nice to just have it out and done.  i can't say that the three day process turns out a better result, either.  i might have to not decorate a tree ever again! :)  chris was so, so excited to get out the decorations, and helped a whole lot with hanging up the ornaments.  he had a great time.  naomi had fun, too, but more in the scope of her two-year-old attention span.  she would go play, then run back to do a few ornaments, then run off to play some more.

(chris took these next two)

wednesday, the second, we talked about how serving others is the same as serving Jesus.  i introduced an activity that we're going to be doing this christmas season.  i bought a little basket that's serving as our manger, and some of the crinkled, shredded, gift-basket paper, which is serving as our hay.  anytime someone does something nice for another person, they get to add some "hay" to the "manger".  it's been fun to see the kids' eyes light up when they realize that they get to add some hay.  on christmas eve, we'll add a baby doll, and see if we've made the bed soft enough for baby Jesus.  hopefully it'll be a good reminder of the real meaning of the season.

thursday, the third, we made sure to do something nice for another person so we could add some hay.  we also attended our stake's nativity exhibit that evening.  it was beautiful, and a really spiritual, nice way to kind of kick-off the month.

friday, the fourth, the kids and i made our new ornaments for the tree.  we get a new ornament every year for the kids, and this year i decided to do salt dough ornaments.  the recipe is on the left sidebar.  katie and lily were over, so we invited them to make some with us.  they were a lot of fun to make, and turned out really cute with cookie cutters.  we did a few of varying thicknesses, and i think the thicker ones turned out nicer.  i was worried they wouldn't bake, and get properly dried out, but they did just fine.  after they had baked and cooled, we painted them.  my favorites are christopher's gingerbread man, and naomi's big pink and red star.  you can tell whose are whose, because naomi loves pink!  hers are all the same color. :)  she loves pink, so that totally reflects her right now.

saturday, the fifth, we took the kids christmas shopping.  we went to the dollar store (we're cheap, and they're kids - it's all good, right? :D), and split up - one kid and one adult.  then, we switched.  the kids shopped for each other and for dave and i.  it was fun to watch them realize that we weren't there to get anything for them.  after they realized that, they really got into getting something really great for each other.  i'm excited to watch them open their gifts for each other on christmas.

today, the sixth, we watched the first presidency christmas devotional together as a family, and had hot chocolate and s'mores.  ok, my indoor version of s'mores.  here's the easiest way i've found to do it (if you care!).  get out your broiling pan, or a cookie sheet.  set your oven to broil.  put parchment paper down on the pan (not totally necessary, but much easier), and put marshmallows down.  group them according to how much you want on each graham cracker.  for example, i was making four s'mores, so i had four groupings of marshmallows.  broil them for a minute to a minute and a half, or until they're as brown and toasty as you'd like them.  on your graham crackers, spread some nuetella on one side of a graham cracker.  use a spatula to transfer the toasted marshmallows to one side of another graham cracker.  squish the two crackers together, and serve.  yum!

while we were having our delicious desserts, we had a great time watching the devotional.  the kids were squirming and noisy, which was expected.  i think they felt the spirit of it, though, and enjoyed the ten minutes they heard. :)  i look forward to this every year, and it feels like the christmas season has officially started, now that we've watched the devotional.  i love the inspiring words from the prophet and his counselors.  the music was amazing, of course.  what a great way to spend a sunday evening!  in case you missed it, or just want to watch it again, here's the link:

http://www.lds.org/move/index.html?type=Christmas&event=2009&lang=english

i'm excited for all the fun things we'll do together as a family this up coming week!