Advent is finally upon us. The 'holidays' are my favourite time of year. I love the preparation - sweat shop sewing like it's 1999, baking with a rainbow of spices and dried fruit, and decking the 'halls' (read lounge) with boughs of something festive that isn't actually holly. I'm happiest listening to cheesy carols, surrounded by sparkly tinsel whilst nibbling gingerbread. I have to say though, this year I'm particularly aware of the threat of Christmas fatigue. I mean the shops seemed to get their decorations out some time in October, and it's hard to sustain a festive feeling for three months straight - even my stamina for merriment has a limit.
But you know what? I refuse to let rabid commercialism steal my Christmas spirit. The antidote is in family, tradition, intention, generosity, the handmade and watching an obscene amount of b-grade christmas telemovies. So strap yourselves in, and get ready for a series of heavily christmas themed posts.
Today of course we opened the first box of our advent calendar. Our calendar isn't particularly classy or attractive. I have plans to make a new more glam calendar next year but this year we are making do. Seeing as my children are very young (and too little to whinge about it), I'm filling each drawer with a 'christmas activity' rather than a chocolate or toy. Today's activity is a trip to the library to pick out Christmas stories (yes I am keeping it low key!!)
In case you're looking for activity ideas to fill you calendar with here are some more things that we'll be doing this year…
decorating the christmas tree
making christmas cards
baking cookies and other christmas treats
writing letters to santa
visiting santa
singing christmas carols
staying up to watch a christmas movie on the big screen
taking a drive to look at Christmas lights
choosing a toy for a needy child
making decorations
making christmas gifts
I'll elaborate more on our advent activities as the weeks progress.
Needless to say, so far the calendar has not run smoothly. There was a small riot when I explained that we only get to open one drawer per day...
In other non-christmas related matters - we had a little family birthday party for Turi on the weekend. Sadly there was some kind of glitch with my flash card and most of my photos came out looking like pop-art. I'm hoping to get some photos from some of the other cameras at the party at some stage and will share some more party details then.
Also happy birthday to my big sister Jen who is officially old today… 30!
Posts
I love the Christmas activities. I feel as though Dad & I should put similar lovely ideas into the drawers of our Advent Calendar. Perhaps we'd lower our stress levels!
ReplyDeleteLoving your Advent ideas - we on the other hand have a terribly gauche lego calendar this year that had Nico counting down to advent and then up at 5:50am on "The Day" ready to open window one. To counterbalance we also have a truly holy paper calendar with a picture of "a shed" on it, as Nico put it (read nativity scene).
ReplyDeleteThanks - I think! :p
ReplyDelete