Advent

While the first of December is still a few days away, Advent officially gets started today with the first Sunday of Advent.  In the Church, Advent is a time of preparing for the birth of Jesus, though it's more secularly known just as the countdown to Christmas.  Last year, my mom gave Maya an advent calendar with a lovely scene from the Christmas nativity and a door to open each day,  Maya remembers the calendar, and has been telling us for weeks that soon it will be time for her "Baby Jesus picture" as she calls it.  (Good thing we saved it ... Jeff wanted to recycle it at the end of the season last year).

I'm not really into advent calendars with chocolates or gifts each day ... I think Christmas is commercial enough already.  Which is why I love the tradition Andrea from A Peek Inside the Fishbowl has for the 25 Days of Christmas. In her words:

"Instead of buying a chocolate advent calendar I decided to surprise the girls with one Christmas-related activity everyday throughout the month of December; a fun task, seasonal event, or craft. No chocolate, no shopping, and no cheap gifts — just family time."

I love this idea, and I"m going to give it a try this year. I'm undecided about whether I'll do the whole 25 days, or start a little alter, maybe on St. Nicholas Day.  It all depends on how many activities I can come up with!  I think I'm planning to use envelopes for the activities this year, but if we enjoy it I'll look into making some kind of calendar with pockets for future years.

ETA:  Lynn at Turtlehead has just posted about the (gorgeous) advent calendar she's created for her family's advent activities. She also lists the activities they'll be doing, so if you're looking for inspiration, click on over!