The first thing we did was purchase an Advent calendar. I wasn't interested in a temporary one with candy/treats; I wanted one that we could use year after year. I lucked up and found this one in the Dollar Deals section of Target!
The pockets are the perfect size for putting treats in, but we decided to create family holiday activities to do daily. Here is today's activity:
We want to share the historical St. Nicholas rather than building up a Santa Claus fantasy. Although we love the classic Christmas shows about Santa and will happily share them with him, we don't want the entire Christmas season to be about Santa. I'm not sure how we are going to do it, but we'll just take it one year at a time - lol! Today we went to see Santa for St. Nicholas day - in the future we more do more traditional activities. My cousin Karissa is Orthodox and they do some great things for St. Nicholas Day - she shares their family traditions on her blog here.
We have so much more to come this holiday season - I will be blogging about more of these traditions as we continue some old ones and initiate some new ones!
Happy Holidays!!!
Thanks for linking me. The picture of Castiel with Santa is ADORABLE!!! Oh, I love it!! And great idea for the Advent calendar - activities rather than candy. Growing up we always had a birthday cake for Baby Jesus on Christmas Eve. A little silly I guess, but fun. You guys are making some great traditions!
ReplyDeleteHey, I left this comment in reply to your comment on my blog - not sure if you'd see it or not:
ReplyDeleteGreat! We also have one I am going to read next called “Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child” by John Gottman. Both books were recommended by Brandon Arbuckle. Oh, and I also have one on my Amazon list called “Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living.” I’m hoping to get it for Xmas and that it will help me with home organization!