Christmas Traditions: The Christmas Campout

I congratulated myself on the awesome new tradition of the kids' "Christmas Campout" by the Christmas tree - complete with homemade pizza, shrimp cocktail ring, Christmas stories read by the fire, sleeping bags and pillows arranged by the tree - until I realized that it's almost 9:00 pm and the kids are still out there giggling and goofing around. File this one under the WHAT WAS I THINKING??? label.

Paul just went out there to quiet them down...for the fifth time. He hasn't come back and it's been 10 minutes. I'm thinking he's probably camping out on the couch tonight.

If I were Rachel, I'd be writing myself a note for next Christmas: "Dear Donna, Regarding the Christmas campout...DON'T DO IT!"

Advent Calendar Craft, Cheap and Easy!

I know I already did a post about Advent calendars, but I wanted to share the one I just made this weekend (hey, better late than never, right?). The Advent banner I was using was really hokey and had very tiny pockets. I thought I could make something better...it just took a trip to the local dollar store. This Advent calendar cost me $4 to make:

I found the little boxes in the party favors aisle (in the baby section, no less!). They are mint green with white plastic handles. They came 8 to a package, so those cost $3. I found a bag of "Christmas Table Scatter" with glittery green foam pine trees which made a perfect box decoration ($1), then I added the numbers 1-24 using red and green permanent markers. KID 1 decided an A-B-B pattern would look nice (red-green-green) for the numbers, so that's what we did. I tied the boxes onto a length of wide red and green plaid ribbon using strips of fabric and various ribbons (all of which I scrounged from my craft closet). You could also just hang the boxes on the Christmas tree and let the kids hunt for the box of the day.

I think it turned out pretty nice! Here's the whole picture:

And a close-up:

I'm pretty happy with my dollar store Advent calendar! Now those little boxes are just begging to be filled! Our dollar store had small bags of chocolate coins and wrapped Christmas chocolates that will be perfect treats, and I've already got my list of daily Advent activities written on slips of scrapbook paper to stuff into each box. We're having so much fun with our Advent countdown!

Daily Advent Activities

I'm just now putting together some activities for our Advent calendar and thought I'd share some of our holiday happenings that I wrote on slips of paper and stuffed into the little pockets:

Dec. 1st: Let's decorate the house for Christmas tonight!

Dec. 2nd: Secretly do something nice for someone today.

Dec. 3rd: Let's trim the tree tonight!

Dec. 4th: Let's bring pizza to Grammy and help decorate her house tonight!

Dec. 5th: Christmas at Pinewood is quite a sight - Let's go see it all decked out tonight! (Pinewood is the Spanish-style mansion at Bok Tower)

This adorable mitten Advent garland

would be easy to create at home.

Dec. 6th: A small gift awaits if you follow the clue - It rests in a place where you do, too! (Each gets a special ornament that represents them somehow...our 5-yr-old loves soccer and our 3-yr-old learned how to swing by herself. I found both ornaments at Hallmark, balked at the price, then paid it so I could be done...thanks for the advice, Liz!)

Dec. 7th: Make Pine Cone Ornaments: Spray with fake snow, dab with white, gold or silver paint, add glitter...there are lots of ways to dress up a pinecone!

Dec. 8th: Sing a Christmas carol for Daddy and Mommy tonight - be sure to practice together first!

Dec. 9th: Wrap up your presents for family
               And gently place them under the tree.


Dec. 10th: Bake some special cookies to share with our neighbors. (We'll do something easy like these Molasses Crinkles)

Dec. 11th: Let's make a Christmas pizza with RED, WHITE, and GREEN toppings to share with Grammy! We'll watch a Christmas movie, too!

Dec. 12th: Disney decks it's hotels lavishly for Christmas. Let's go ride the monorail and enjoy the decorations...I bet we'll find hot chocolate at the Wilderness Lodge!
 
Dec. 13th: A brand new Christmas book for Ben and Emma to handle

                Sits in a warm, cozy spot up on the _____________. (answer: mantle)

That's all I've got for now...I will plan the rest when we get a little closer to Christmas. As events pop up that I don't know about, I will just swap out that day's activity and replace it with the event (like on Dec. 12th...is that the day of the city Christmas parade?)
 
What sorts of activities do you do during Advent?

Holiday Treats and Traditions: Polar Express Hot Chocolate

This weekend we broke out our holiday books and movies, including a family favorite: The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg. Both the book and the movie feature the one drink I could never go cold turkey on - hot chocolate as rich and smooth as melted chocolate bars.

In fact, as the kids donned their pajamas and settled in to watch the movie, I snuck into the kitchen and whipped up a batch of melted chocolate...a bag of semi-sweet morsels melted in the double boiler, 1/2 cup of heavy cream, and milk (enough to achieve desired chocolate consistency/color), and a dash of cinnamon whisked smooth.

I delivered the steaming mugs of melted chocolate just as the dancing waiters presented the pajama-clad Polar Express passengers with their hot chocolate. Everyone declared it the BEST hot chocolate in the WORLD...even my husband, who only likes "good chocolate."

 It's definitely a tradition that bears repeating...several more times this Christmas season. As we read the book together this morning, our 3-year-old noted at the hot chocolate scene, "Hey, that's just like us, Mommy! We had hot chocolate, too!"

Enjoy!

Our Top Ten Favorite Holiday Traditions, from Pat

1. My children each have an advent calendar. They can open one pocket each day. It's just something small (barrettes, a coin, earrings, etc.) but they look forward to it each day.

2. Each day for 16 days the children and I bake a different kind of cookie. On the 17th day, we organize the cookies onto plates that we then give away to everyone who helps us throughout the year from the librarian to the garbage collector, as well as to all our friends.



3. The children and I make all the Christmas cards that we send to friends and family. (Often while the cookies are baking!)

4. We read a different Christmas story for bedtime each night starting on Dec. 1st. We always read Silent Night, In the Manger and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve.

5. We put the tree up the weekend after Thanksgiving. There is a picture ornament for each christmas since the children were born. There's also an ornament for every trip we've taken. They always bring out the stories of "...remember when....". Last we tie a red ribbon on the tree and remember all our loved ones that passed on during the year.



6. Each year, each child picks out a new ornament for the tree that represents something from their life that year to add to the family tree.

7. As often as possible, we sit together as a family in the evenings before bed and sing Christmas songs while Mother plays the piano.

8. In the evening on Dec. 5th, we put our shoes out for St. Nikolas filled with apples and oats for his donkey. We tell the story of St. Nikolas. The next morning, it's been replaced with small gifts from him.

9. We spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my husband's family. We always go to the Christmas Eve service at the church together with his parents, brothers and their families.

10. We put up the Nativity set each year and tell the story of Jesus birth as we unwrap each piece. The children have a plastic version they can play with and retell the story over and over again.