Our Christmas countdown is something the kids look forward to every year and I'm trying to keep a good attitude about it. In theory, the activities we do to bring in this season are uplifting and bond us together as a family. In reality, sometimes it works out that way, and other times the activities we do are just a pain in the butt with a little fun mixed in here and there. And some days, like yesterday, the kids get an Andes mint and they love it.
I've learned not to make a big deal out of our calendar. Usually I put activities in the calendar that we would do anyway and most of them are super simple. It's amazing how many times in a day the kids will check the advent calendar if I forget to put something in there early. And they're always excited about the activity, even if they're not sure what it means.
For example, Sunday's activity was to "Go to Helen's." Helen is the mother of one of Jared's good friends from high school and she invited us to her house for some snacks. The girls opened up the calendar on Sunday and with big smiles looked at me and said, "We're going to Helen's today!"
Me: "Do you know who Helen is?"
Them: "No."
See. They don't care. We went to Helen's and they had a great time destroying her basement. Activity accomplished. Tradition going strong.
I captured Saturday's countdown activity on my low-quality video camera. It was fun for me because I wasn't really involved in this one. The benefit to being the advent calendar planner is that sometimes I can plan the activities so the work falls to someone else.
We're so totally coming closer as a family :)
5 comments:
Oh my gosh, Rachelle...Oh how I've missed your laugh! I couldn't help but laugh along with you. Not sure exactly what we were laughing about, but loved it. Thanks for putting a smile on my face today! :)
I am going to use your saying as my new mantra: "We're coming closer as a family, We're coming closer as a family...."
The kids sound like they are already having a magical season, and I guess that's the whole point, huh?
I know Amber...the reason I have to have that saying is because I really want to believe something good will come out of the impatience, the fighting, and the resistance. Sometimes our family activities seem to divide us more than they bring us together. But once in a while you hit the jackpot! And apparently my kids remember mostly good things about our advent calendar activities, so I'm taking that as a good sign.
And Janene...I'm not really sure what we're laughing about either, so it's a good thing we don't always need a reason :) I miss you!
AWESOME video. Where'd you learn to edit like that? You have such a great laugh. I really miss you!
Thanks Stace. I just used iMovie on our mac...I love our mac because everything is so user friendly. I miss you too! It stinks to be so far away. I bet you guys are doing some awesome things this season (as usual). I'd love to know what you're up to...and hey, congrats on writing yet another Nanomo (or whatever it's called) book!
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