advent day one

Happy first day of Advent...

The first day of the advent season almost caught me empty-handed this year. Long time readers of this blog may remember the eariler forms of advent calendars around here, like this. I started this calendar last year, and it was in nearly complete last year. I took it out last month and spent an afternoon stitching up the remaining flaps to go over the pockets (for each day once its over), and then spent yesterday filling its pockets. There is still more stitching to be done, but its turned into an ongoing project. Truth be told, several of the items don't actually fit in these pockets, its a fun challenge to find as many as I can that do. Today, the kids reached into the "1" pocket for two teensy dragon erasers. Here's a few of the other things they will be getting, most from our local toy store, Top Ten...

-pens with multi-colored ink
-little japanese erasers
-Martha's flip book (genius)
-glow-in-the-dark paints
-geode rocks to break open (yes, we will be the family flinging rocks onto the pavement outside at 6:00 am on that day- trying to break the rocks open)
-tiny calculators
-decorate-your-own-rulers (clear pockets running through the center of each one to decorate)
-little plastic cats that look like Gracie
-a drive to see the Christmas lights (in pjs, with stuffies, of course!)
-Stained Glass coloring books from Dover
-Christmas Eve- new pjs
-decorate gingerbread houses
-watch a Christmas movie before bed
-Pick out and decorate our Christmas tree (we also put small trees in each of the kid's rooms that serve as nightlights for the month, so they'll decorate those too)

I tried to time activity toys and trips during those exciting yet open days of winter break from school, leading up to Christmas. Things like blank "make your own" story/comic books, cookies to bake and decorate will be good for those days.  Let's hope it all makes sense.

Can you tell I really get into advent calendars?

If you are looking for good advent ideas, or just fun holiday kid craft ideas, check out Kids Craft Weekly's holiday book. I've referred to this downloadable pdf so many times, for my kids and for my Girl Scout troop. So worth the small amount of money it costs ($5).

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Thank you for all who purchased fabric from the shop today! I will be working on those packages diligently tomorrow and hope to ship them all out by Wednesday at the very latest.

Oh! Thanks for the fake wreath love. Its growing on me!