Advent Calendar

I found lots of Advent Calendars that I really love, like this one from PBK, this one on Etsy is pretty cute, & this one that is made from a Cookie Sheet. Anyway, even though I liked all of those & could probably make something similar to each one, I opted not to do any of those. My motto was simplicity (1) because little man (16 months) doesn't really "get" Christmas yet, and (2) I didn't want to spend any extra money on something used for such a short amount of time.

So instead, I made a very simple Advent Calendar out of construction paper that I already had & taped it to our pantry door. I cut a tree & some stars, then punched out 24 red circles with a 1" circle puncher. On the red circles I wrote activities for us to do each day in December leading up to Christmas Day.

Some of our activities are:

•  watch a Christmas special on TV (that I DVR'd because no way does little man stay up late enough to watch it in real time)
• color a Christmas coloring page
• read a Christmas book
• play with our Little People Nativity Set (we do this daily - it's a BIG hit!)
• bake cookies with Nana
• make Christmas goodies with Mimi
• surprise Daddy at work with Christmas treats
• make a birthday card for Jesus
• bake a birthday cake/cupcakes for Jesus (hope Jesus likes chocolate as much as we do!)
• make & take treats to neighbors

I left some blank so we could come up with extra activities along the way. Nothing on this list is super special, nor does it cost a ton of money (they're pretty much free!). But it is nice to take a little time each day to remember why we celebrate this season.

I'm trying to remember & incorporate what our MOPS mentor mom, Janie, said to us right before the holiday season started..."Hospitality is in the heart, not the home". So, no, I don't have to have the cutest Advent Calendar out there, but it certainly has my heart in it.