A week ago, I was really struggling to get into the Christmas “spirit”. There were a varity of reasons that I won’t bore you with, but here are a few things I’ve been doing to help combat that that I thought I’d share with you.
Along with the favorite CDs (some of which I can’t find!) we’ve been listening to music on Finetunes (which is why I’m not as upset about the missing CDs). I’ve made a “Christmas Playlist” (you can click here to listen to it) and it’s been a fun way to find new music.
I’ve created our own “Advent Activity” Calendar for the boys and I. Some of the ones I’ve seen online are really impressive (Look here or here or here). I went for the old fashioned count-down chain (and then I don’t have to feel bad for starting it this late in the month and not on the first…tho one person mentioned doing the 12 Days of Christmas). I made strips of paper with activies to do on it (some as easy as ”Eat a Christmas Cookie while reading a Christmas story” or “Have a cup of hot chocolate with a candy cane in it”…some are really impressive like “Make Cinnamon Spice Ornaments” or “Help decorate the tree” and some are just boring but necessary to fill in the gaps “Help mommy mail Christmas Cards” or “Drive to St. Louis!” Then I have a few back up ones if the weather premits, like “Take a walk and gather pine cones” and “Make pine cone bird feeders for the birds”. Or, I may save those ideas for once Christmas is done and we still have another week of no preschool!) We’ll see how it goes. My 4 year old is wanting to know when Christmas is, and I think it’ll help him to see the chain.
I thought I’d list all my ideas for the chain here, and see if any of you who read this had a few ideas of your own. What are things you love to do with your family this time of year?
- Have a cup of hot chocolate with a candy cane in it
- Go to Conner Prairie
- Go to the Children’s Museum
- Bake Christmas Cookies
- Decorate Christmas Cookies
- Take Christmas Cookies to the neighbors
- Put bird food in the feeders
- Take pictures of birds at the feeder, look up type of bird
- Go for a walk, collect pine cones. Make pinecone bird feeders for outside
- Go for a drive to look at Christmas lights
- Make snow flakes
- Decorate front window with snowflakes
- Buy Christmas gifts for family (probably simple things from the Dollar Store)
- Help Mommy mail Christmas cards
- Help Mommy clean the house for family visiting
- Go through toys, take out toys you don’t play with any more to donate or sell (Not sure if that is a “fun” activiy for most kids, it may be more of a chore, but it is a great time to talk about giving and kids who don’t have as much as your child.)
- Read a book in the light of the Christmas tree
- Watch a Christmas movie in our PJs
- Eat a candy cane while reading a Christmas story
- Make salt dough decorations for the tree.
- Make cinnamon spice ornaments
- Put ribbon in ornaments, hang on tree.
- Make a gingerbread house
- Make a Birthday Cake for Baby Jesus (we always do this 12/24)
