our 25 days of christmas

this is last year's advent calendar.

every day olivia would get a new item that was
hidden inside the sock. and if the item was too big
i'd write on a card and put that in there and had her
find the gift or do something for it like 'do a funny dance'.

this year, liam is old enough to be a part of it. i didn't
want to just buy stuff for them because they have a lot
of stuff that ends up all over the house that i end up
cleaning up or throwing away.

so, this year i had the idea to do a
'family night count down to christmas'

first i made a list of different things we like to
or would like to do as a family.

then i spaced it out throughout 25 days.

and then we went shopping!
everything cost about $75


then i wrote out 25 cards with envelopes
and sealed them with number stickers

each one reveals what we are doing that night

we are doing things like:

movie nights with dvr'd or rented christmas movies

crafts, coloring, and play-doh

game nights

dance parties

cookie decorating.....

the gifts that we bought go along with some of
the nights so i wrapped them and put them
under the tree. some of the notes will tell the
kids to go find the gift with
that night's number on it.


i am really looking forward to this and i have high
hopes that it will get us all in the christmas spirit
while spending quality family time together.

this comes in handy when adding a new
little baby to the family...

we will take pictures and document each night
and i'll try and update and let you all know how
it's going.

enjoy this holiday season with your loved ones!