Christmas Countdown Fun.

So, I realized the weekend after Thanksgiving that we had to have a way to countdown Christmas (and Santa's) arrival around here.  The first thing Fawn was asking each time he woke up from a nap or in the morning was "is it Christmas yet?" or "did Santa come?"  I'm thrilled he is excited about the season and seems to get it this year, but I felt like the source of constant let down..."not yet sweetheart."  Bottom line...we needed an Advent calendar and pronto.

I pulled out some scrap fabric to see if I could quickly sew a calendar for us this year and then decided that if I really wanted it done by December 1, I would have to do something much more simple.  Thanks to Pinterest (which I don't really use -- just afraid to get sucked into something else), I saw lots of cute and easy Advent calendars made in muffin tins.  They range from the super-fancy (think magnetic tape, scrapbook-looking, reusable) to the super-simple (cardboard circles taped over the holes).  We went with super-simple (I'll take a picture tomorrow when it's full again -- I used a big 12 muffin tin and plan to "re-fill" it tonight, though you can definitely use a mini-muffin tin and capture the whole season).  Red and white marker on white index cards cut into circles and taped on!  It fits great in my cookbook holder, so it's prominently displayed in our kitchen.

While it was suggested you could put a treat behind each number, I am currently anti-treats (we have weaned off the gummies/marshmellows that were potty training rewards and I'm not ready to start another candy high).  So I wrote a fun Christmas activity on the back of each card that Fawn gets to do (also a Pinterest idea...and I thought a great one!).  Some examples: make a Christmas sticker picture, read Christmas bible stories, go to the library to pick out Christmas books, make candy covered pretzels, paint Christmas trees with sponges, go to Zoolight Safari, watch a Christmas movie, go to McWane to play in the snow, decorate a birthday cake for Jesus...you get the idea.  Basically, things I would aspirationally want to do with Fawn anyway, but now schedule them ahead of time to make sure I have all the supplies on hand.  It's been fun!  Though this little guy is still eagerly anticipating Santa's big arrival (and trying very hard to stay on the "nice" list).