26 days of family fun ...

I hope you had a chance to look at the Advent Conspiracy video, I linked in my last posting. I love the phrase it gives of giving less presents and more presence this Christmas. So often I think over the past week and I can't find much time when I really gave my girls my undivided presence. That is definitely one of my big goals for this Christmas season.
My friend Katie and her husband Andrew have a great Advent tradition with their two kids. Each day when the kids open their advent calendar door of the day, they don't find candy as most kids do, they find a family activity or adventure. Some of them are simple, some of them are bigger weekend adventures that Katie and Andrew have planned out. I think this is such a great way to make sure you connect with your kids every single day of the Christmas season.
I asked Katie to share some of the surprises her kids will be opening this year.

• making a fire in the fireplace
• Going sledding
• Having hot cocoa after dinner
• Taking a drive to see the neighborhood Christmas lights
• making Christmas cookies together
• watching a family Christmas movie

I loved her suggestions. At first I thought, "how can I come up with 26 things?" But after I heard Katie's ideas, and then looked at our calendar and saw special things we are doing such as going to the Parade of Lights, our church's choir concerts, and friends' Christmas parties, I saw that it would be pretty easy to fill in the rest.

Do you have special things, big and small, that you do with your kids each December? I still need to fill in a few days and would love to hear what your family does this time of year.

Advent Conspiracy

This Sunday is the first day of Advent. Advent is the four week period in the church calendar leading up to Christmas. Although many protestant churches do not recognise the season of Advent, I think it is a wonderful thing for all Christians. Advent means "coming" and it is about preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ. I love having a time set apart in the calendar that we can take to prepare ourselves for Christmas. Over the next five days I am going to share some ideas of things to do to make your family's Advent meaningful.

First of all, check out this amazing video from Advent Conspiracy. I think I have watched it 50 times in the last month and it has completely changed how I want our family to celebrate Christmas this year! I hope it inspires you as well!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVqqj1v-ZBU

Thanksgiving Eve projects

Every year on Thanksgiving eve the girls and I make Indian headdresses and hand print turkeys. While being fun crafts, they also create a small record of how the girls have grown that year. The girls love to try on last year's headdresses and see how much bigger their turkey is this year. We use the turkeys to decorate the kitchen and the girls and I wear (yes Pete thinks i am weird) our headdresses while we watch the parade. Pj's, hot chocolate, a construction paper headdress and the Macy's day parade, to me that is Thanksgiving morning!

As I take time thinking about the many things I am thankful for this year. You come to mind. I am so grateful that when I send out this blog, you read it! Thank you for your encouragement, comments, ideas and support. I have loved making new bloggy friends and connecting with old friends around the world through this blog. You are all a great blessing to me.