Our Advent Calendar...

This December I decided to fill our Advent calendar with different activities that we would be able to do together as a family (or at the very least, just the boys and me).  I even decided to include some of the boys' gifts in our calendar activities since we never really have time to celebrate Christmas with just the 4 of us.  We'll see if this is something we enjoy, but so far so good, I think :)

Here is our Advent Calendar I made a few years back...

Day #1:  Gifts- The boys each got to open 1 gift.  They each got a Melissa and Doug wooden vehicle.  Henry's was a fire engine and Charlie's was a train.

Day #2: CALM (This was actually postponed to the next day).

Day #3: Why Do We Call it Christmas? DVD.  This DVD is really well done, it's a little bit above Henry's head, but it will be great to have as he gets older.

We went to CALM with Bob & Sharon and had a great time.  Charlie was a huge grouch on the drive out there, but thankfully, he perked up once he saw the lights, the train, and of course, the merry-go-round...

Henry thought this Santa Claus was real.  He told me later that next time he sees him he wants to ask him where his reindeer and sleigh were.  He was very serious :)

Day #4: Watch our Why Do We Call it Christmas? DVD and eat popcorn (although Henry decided he didn't want popcorn, he wanted pears instead).

Day #5:  We went to the high school to play games with the Severely Developmentally Delayed students.  We played "Hi-Ho-Cherry-O", "Hungry, Hungry, Hippos", and a Fishing game.  We also did some coloring and puzzle assembling.  We are going to go back in a few weeks to teach the students how to make sugar cookies.  Should be fun!

Day #6: Hang out with Levi and go to daddy's basketball game.

So that's what we've done the first 6 days.  My goal with this calendar isn't to overwhelm us with activity, but instead to help us be intentional with our days.  Even though John is super busy this month, sitting down with him before the month starts to plan out what we want to do together as a family helps prevent the month from feeling like it slipped through our fingers.  It also makes me less frustrated about the amount of family time that basketball consumes.  A less frustrated mom/wife is a very good thing :)