Our Advent Countdown

Germans have been celebrating Christmas since August so it’s no surprise that we’ve already got one foot in the seasonal pie. My kids all want the cardboard German Advent calendars (they invented the Advent calendar) with chocolate but I’ve decided to do one better and am frantically making my own. It’s not going to be too fancy but it will have chocolate. I’m stitching little red and green bags which we will hang from a clothesline in the kitchen. I got the idea from Junie’s kindergarten frau and liked that it was very German. I braved Pinterest this morning and had a small heart attack when I saw all the pins under Advent calendars. It was too much for my simple brain, I can’t take all that beautiful creativity.

In order to really get my kids in the spirit I’m putting more than chocolate in the baggies, we’re including action cards. I think I like the way that sounds so I will now refer to them as Action Cards. Our Actions Cards will look like this (I will put them in order after I take a good look at my calendar):

Move tree decorations around

Read The Little Match Girl (really, it’s worth clicking the link)

Have hot cocoa together outside and look at the stars

Make a craft with Mom

Write a letter to Santa

Go to St. Goar’s Christmas market (they have The Three Wise Men with their camels on display)

Go to the church Christmas party

Watch Annabelle’s Wish with treats

Deliver bread to neighbors

Call grandparents and tell them you love them

Surprise Dad with a Christmas lunch at work & decorate his office

Shop for Christmas Angel presents

Make a special ornament for tree

Sing Silent Night in front of the Christmas tree before bed

Come up with a Family Christmas Cheer

Take Christmas gifts to teachers

Rearrange the Nativity Scene

Wear Red or Green to school

Read The Gift of the Magi

Wrap your Christmas Angel presents and put under tree

Say something you love about Junie

Say something you love about Rex

Say something you love about Harrison

Say something you love about Georgia

Again, the order of appearance is going to change depending on the week day but I think this will really give my kids something to look forward to. And if I include chocolate in each bag we will be sure to open it, otherwise we tend to miss a few days here and there.

Once I’ve got it made and hanging I’ll post some photos to prove that yes, I actually managed to finish a Christmas project on time. Otherwise I’ll print off this list and tape it to the fridge to remind us that we were going to do something cool this year.

Wish me luck.