As the days on the calendar tick away and the month of December inches ever closer to the BIG DAY, the anticipation can be just too much. In the past I’ve tried to come up with different ways of marking the passing days for the children. We’ve done the usual grocery store advent calendars with bits of chocolate. We’ve tried the other types of calendars, cloth, felt, cardboard all with the same basic premise. But everything seemed so anticlimactic.
And then as I was reading a magazine I found a wonderful idea that a fellow subscriber had written about. Granted it required a little more work on my end (heck a lot more work), but the rewards were well worth it.
I go through the both of the kids bookcases (each crammed FULL of books) and pull out any book that is Christmas or winter related. Usually we have a few more than 25 books, but it works well. I then wrap each book in Xmas paper and place them in a basket. Each night the kids get to pick out 1 book (sometimes two if we have missed a night) and they open the package up together. They not only love picking a book out but they get to open a present every night. Each time they open one of their books they act like it is brand new to them. As the books in the basket start to dwindle the excitement grows. It has worked so well, that now the oldest child joins in the fun of picking the books out and helps with the wrapping.
It's tomorrow...
13 years ago
