Growing up, we had a red flannel advent calendar. Everyday for the month of December we would take turns opening the pocket to see what flannel piece of the nativity came next. I can remember hoping it would be my turn when the 24th came to put up the last piece of flannel. The baby Jesus. I think my siblings liked to spoil me because it seemed like I was able to put up the baby Jesus several years in a row.
A few years ago I received a package in the mail right before December. My sis right above me had made us a replication of the red flannel advent calendar that we'd grown up with.
Now The Native's take turns opening up the pockets and adding little felt cutouts each day adding to the nativity.
Growing up, The SM's grandmother would get him and his siblings these advent calendars. Each day you open a little window and you get a little piece of chocolate. After The SM and I married, his Mum would send us one of these.
It is fun having The Native's carry on the traditions that were in both my home growing up and also The SM's.
What do you do to count down the days of Christmas in your home?
When the kids were small I would check out as many Christmas books I could from the library at the beginnig of December. Through the years we have collected the classics as gifts. One of my favorites,"The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Tooney". I kept crying the first time I read this book to my oldest kids. Luckily it came with a CD which was also nice. We would read a Christmas book every night until the 24th. Now I just read to my ten year old starting a week before Christmas. Usually we watch a good Scrooge movie or something from the Classics on Christmas Eve. I love the holidays when you can snuggle up and read or watch uplifting stories.
ReplyDeleteMarci
Is it terrible to say that I don't? When it gets here, it gets here.
ReplyDeleteBah, Humbug…
LOL
This year we are trying something new- we are calling it Service Cents. The challenge is to do an act of service daily. At the end of the day if you have done an act of service you get to put a quarter in a jar and we mark on the calendar the ongoing total in the jar. When Christmas arrives we are planning on giving the jar to the Bishop to give to someone in need. Kind of like our gift to Jesus through serving others.
ReplyDelete@Anony- You can count down with us-we can always use more quarters in our jar.
I've tried counting down. I've got some cool little advent calendars. One is a cabin and there are little animals behind every window and door. But I find it doesn't work for us. Especially now. Maybe when Scoots is older. As it is, the time and day come too quickly and leave the same way -
ReplyDeletebut I love the idea of these traditions.
I love advent calendars! We have three, my kids love them. I want to collect a few more.
ReplyDeletei had this really cool idea involving walnuts and candy inside for this year. so emma worked her little guts out and made me 24 walnut ornaments with a life saver inside and we hung them on the tree. everyone would take a turn and we started with mitchell. as soon as that boy realized there was candy in there...well...they are gone now. broken open and eaten.
ReplyDeletenext time...no candy.
i like the nativity. and the chocolate. :)
my mom would reuse the same chocolate advent, just mold new chocolate every year. we would have to take turns, 6 kids divided by 24 = 4. when I got married I wanted one. when I saw they were $1. I figured we could buy one every year & wondered why my mom went to all the trouble. some years we buy them, some years we dont
ReplyDeleteI've not done much with the countdown tradition. For the early years I was always counting down to finals week. Then I was counting down to the day grades were due. One of my favorite childhood traditions was a "marshmallow tree" my mom made every year.You stack a large marshmallow and a regular sized gumdrop on a toothpick and cover a styrofoam cone with them. That's where I developed my love of stale marshmallows. It sat by the front door and we picked at it all season. I was always going to do that with my family, but never got to it until LAST year. My kids just made fun of me for making it and they made fun of it. They hardly touched it. I'm sorry if my Christmas treat doesn't match up to dad's fudge and toffee. So...do I do it again this year?
ReplyDeleteKathy, Kids can be such pukes!!! I say, you get yourself a choc. advent count down for your own self! :D
ReplyDelete