Advent calendar activities

December 1, 2008 by Barbara.

Andrea over at Peek inside the fishbowl wrote a few days ago about creating an activity-based advent calendar. She made little envelopes to contain the activity statement. I’m planning to reuse the advent calendar that I got from Starbucks last year. It has a box for each day. I love it and had planned to refill it with candies but, really, Reid isn’t that keen on candy and I don’t need the candy tempting me. I had started scoping out what we’ll do a few days ago but didn’t get finished until this evening. Rather than marking myself down for missing the first activity, I changed it. I love being in charge! Here is what I have planned for the next 24 days:

1. Read 1st of Christmas stories in Children’s Rhyming Bible Finalize the activities for the advent calendar 
2. Make photo ornaments with Melissa and her kids from the Oriental Trading Company kits that I bought 2 years ago only to discover they were too complicated for Reid.
3. Read 1st of the Christmas stories in The Rhyme Bible Storybook
4. Decorate the house
5. Shop for a client of the Shepherds of Good Hope homeless shelter. I received a bag and wish list from my Curves.
6. The Story of the Nutcracker by Orleans Young Players Theatre School
7. Make fudge for cookie exchange at Mama’s work after E’s birthday party
8. Write a letter to “Any Canadian Forces Member“ 
9. Decorate a picture to include with the letter to Santa that Reid and Ken wrote a week or so ago
10. Read the 2nd of the Christmas stories in The Rhyme Bible Storybook
11. Visit Taffy Lane in Orleans (a street that goes all out to decorate) to see the Christmas lights
12. Bake shortbread for cookie exchange with Mama’s friends
13. Attend the Bare Naked Ladies “Snacktime” concert with a school friend and her mom
14. Attend the Humpty Dumpty pantomime put on by the East End Theatre Company OR visit Ken’s parents
15. Take a toy to Toy Mountain and have supper at A&W in the mall
16. Visit the reflecting ball at National Research Council. Take hot chocolate in a thermos. It’s about 3 minutes by car from our house and we’ve never went gone to look at it up close. It is particularly beautiful in the winter as this photo (not mine) shows.
17. Read the 3rd of the Christmas stories in The Rhyme Bible Storybook
18. Reid’s Christmas school concert (thank goodness my French exam is on Tuesday and I’ll be able to attend!)
19. Take the train to Grandma Joyce’s house. Dylan will join us in London
20. Attend storytime at the Leamington Library for a reading of The Polar Express
21. Attend Sunday school at the Wheatley United Church
22. Decorate Christmas cookies at Grandma Joyce’s house
23. Picnic under the Christmas tree
24. Have pictures taken of all of the kids in matching pajamas and go to Uncle Roger and Auntie M’s for a pizza party
25. Give Christmas kisses to everyone we see

I didn’t find a date for volunteering, something that I really want to start doing with Reid, or a visit to see Alight at Night at Upper Canada Village but I think that we could do these after Christmas. I didn’t write what book we’ll read when, but I did unpack a bunch of Christmas books this evening - I try to keep them collected together because Christmas stories in July seem a bit odd to me. We have more than enough books to do an advent calendar of only books but I like to read and re-read the same books throughout the month. Ken would probably support a one-a-day schedule for Christmas books, though ;+)

To read how some other people are tackling these activity advent calendars, visit Andrea’s post on the activities she has included and read all the way through the comments, even follow links to folks like Porter at Porter’s Ponderings and Lynn at Turtlehead.

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