a christmas advent calendar

Happy Thanksgiving! I’m so excited and thankful that we get to spend today with family and eat a bunch of food! We were going to try and cook the entire meal to have at my grandparents’, but it was turning out to be too much of a hassle. So instead, they are ordering the meal from Boston Market, and we’re bringing desserts! I made fudge, a pumpkin pie, and an apple pie. They weren’t without their frustrations (I have a really difficult time with the pre-made pie crusts), but they smell good, so cross your fingers!

Anyway, Thanksgiving is late this year, which means December is only a couple of days away. I’ve always wanted to put together an advent calendar, and regardless of us having no (human) children, I went ahead and made one this year. I had grander plans for it, but we have no room in our apartment, so I ended up just stringing it. Maybe next year I’ll fulfill my entire plan. But for this year, here’s what I did:

I bought 24 muslin bags (wedding section at Michael’s), and did the same thing to number them as I did with my Christmas banner (traced with a stencil, painted gold, and sprinkled with gold glitter).

In each bag I have a Christmas activity for us to do. On the days I won’t be here (I’m making a trip back to Texas for my sister’s graduation), I put some fun activities for my husband to do by himself and a few other surprises. I filled the bags knowing what days (like the weekend) would work best for certain activities, but my husband doesn’t know, so they will all be a surprise (Whitney if you see this, stop reading now please 🙂 )! Plus, I’m sure as each day comes, I’ll forget what activity I put in the bag.

If you want to do something similar (this is great for both kids and adults alike), here are some activities I chose:

*decorate the Christmas tree

drink hot cocoa and watch a Christmas movie

*build a gingerbread house

*wrap Christmas presents

*get Starbucks and walk around to see the Christmas lights

*go ice skating

*bake cookies together

*fill a stocking for Kipling

*roast marshmallows

I also threw in a few “date” ideas that aren’t necessarily Christmas-y, but they give us an excuse to spend time doing something special together. I’m so excited for this next month, and I really hope we’re able to make time for all of these things this season. After all, it’s my absolute favorite time of year.