"Last year the Lego advent calendars went on sale right before December. We should just wait till then"
Mom fail.
Had the calendars lasted on the shelves long enough, it's possible they would have gone on sale. There's no telling really, since our country's Lego fervor gobbled up all there were to find like Thanksgiving dinner. This, of course, we discovered on December 1st.
Presented with the immediate need to start an advent calendar, and possessing no desire to wrangle my kids into more automobile submission ("get in your carseat or I'll light your toys on fire!!") I decided to round up some stuff from around the house.
Sure, you could technically consider this a scavenger hunt of junk shoved into decidedly un-pinterestworthy office envelopes and hung from the ceiling. But I used washi tape. I get to keep my blogger card, right? Wait....never had one to begin with. Winning!
All I can say is that I had a few small snippets of time to get this underway, and the kids were pretty thrilled out of their gourds when they stampeded down from playing in their room to find lights strung, and thingies with numbers dangling from them.
It all went down in a squealing, paper tearing, extravaganza. After things were opened, a three year old, high on surprises, hugged me and said she loved it all.
It all went down in a squealing, paper tearing, extravaganza. After things were opened, a three year old, high on surprises, hugged me and said she loved it all.
Just don't tell them that only envelopes 1-4 have any goodies in them so far. *nervous laugh*
Currently I do have Bible verses from the Luke account of the Christmas story in them, but haven't gotten my act together on the rest of it. My hope is to avoid a deluge of candy and clutter crap before we even get to Christmas, so I'm trying to play it smart while still keeping it fun for the kids.
So far....
Supplies for making VERY simple necklaces. When they get broken I can just stick the beads back in the jar.
A few rubber stamps from a cheap alphabet set I got in the dollar binge section of Target ages ago (a C and V for their names, and a few shapes)
Cards to write in and send to anyone they want
I've got some Christmas printable coloring pages, and construction paper snowmen kit pieces lined up to stuff into other envelopes, and some more ideas up my sleeve. By day 24 I'll have surely scraped the bottom of the barrel as far as ideas go.
And because it makes me happy, a shot of my christmas ornament.
Now if you'll excuse me, I believe I hear over the baby monitor the sound of pennies and dimes being dropped into something. Terrorists!
So far....
Supplies for making VERY simple necklaces. When they get broken I can just stick the beads back in the jar.
A few rubber stamps from a cheap alphabet set I got in the dollar binge section of Target ages ago (a C and V for their names, and a few shapes)
Cards to write in and send to anyone they want
I've got some Christmas printable coloring pages, and construction paper snowmen kit pieces lined up to stuff into other envelopes, and some more ideas up my sleeve. By day 24 I'll have surely scraped the bottom of the barrel as far as ideas go.
And because it makes me happy, a shot of my christmas ornament.
Now if you'll excuse me, I believe I hear over the baby monitor the sound of pennies and dimes being dropped into something. Terrorists!
I think that is a great idea for an advent calendar, personally! We never had one when I was a kid, but my MIL sent us the one they used when DH was a boy. (I guess we got it by virtue of having the first grandchild.) It's a felt Christmas tree appliqued onto a large piece of burlap and buttons sewn onto the tree. Below the tree are three rows of eight little felt pockets. They put a miniature ornament in each pocket and you hand the ornament on the tree each day. I still have several of their original ornaments, but had to replace some that were falling apart. There is the most beautiful little angel that always goes in the last pocket so she can be at the top of the tree. My kids (16 & 13) still want to be the one to hang the angel!
ReplyDeleteAnd I just have to know, where did you get your Christmas ornament? I love it! I have a little wooden ornament that is similar, but I really like that one!
Here is one idea I have pinned to do: http://kimmccrary.blogspot.com/2010/12/activities-advent.html#.Up46BuLVFyI
ReplyDeleteThis entire post is hilarious. Lego advent calendars exist? I must have one!
ReplyDeleteOh you crack me up so much! And believe me I needed that today, so thanks. Keep adventing (is that a word?)
ReplyDeleteA funny blogger is better than a pinterest-pretty blogger:) Too funny! It sounds like your kids enjoyed making the advent calendar too so you're right - win!
ReplyDeleteTara, you are so hilarious! I think this may be one of my fave posts ever. You have it going on, girl, and A for awesome effort! :-)
ReplyDelete