One of our most treasured family traditions is our advent calendar. Since my daughters were 2, I've been putting together an advent calendar with a small holiday-related activity to do each day leading up to Christmas. I never thought it would become such an important part of our lives but now, with my girls about to turn 14, they start asking about the calendar several months in advance! Now that my daughters are teenagers our list of activities looks a little different than it did a decade ago- here's what I'm planning to do this year (and you can too with very little prep work).
Because I am all about low-maintenance, especially as a music teacher in December (if you know you know), most of the things are things that might normally be considered "chores", like decorating and sending cards, but now they are fun family activities! It's a great way to really focus on the small joys of the holiday. Here is a list of what we're doing this year:
1. Put up and decorate the tree
2. Make wish lists
3. Hang Christmas lights
4. Make lists of what to give
5. Make cookie dough and put it in the fridge
6. Bake and decorate cookies
7. Put up the rest of the Christmas decor around the house
8. Walk around a town with lots of lights
9. Shop for presents
10. Decorate the front door (we have a wreath, window clings, and flag)
11. Make Christmas cards (my girls love giving handmade cards)
12. Wear matching new Christmas socks
13. Make roasted nuts and peppermint bark
14. Strawberry matcha overnight oats for breakfast
15. Christmas song karaoke with their grandparents
16. Put together teacher gifts
17. Hot cocoa with breakfast (everyone adds their own favorite flavors/ toppings)
18. Hang the stockings
19. Wrap gifts
20. Family secret santa gift exchange
21. Make gingerbread houses
22. Christmas party with the girls' friends (cookies, Christmas movie, Christmas tree pizzas)
23. Play Christmas games (Christmas UNO: sing a Christmas song for every green card you play, eat a marshmallow for every red card, Christmas Categories, Moose Match Mayhem)
24. Put out cookies for Santa
This kind of Christmas countdown / advent activity calendar is so easy to set up because the activities are low-prep, low-mess, quick activities, most of which are things families celebrating Christmas would do anyway. If you want to do something similar this year but don't have time to make a calendar, all you really have to do is write down each activity on a piece of paper and fold it up with the number for the date you want to do it on the outside. Then open a paper each day to reveal that day's activity!
Here is how I made the calendar we use every year (so easy if you have the supplies)- click the image to see the tutorial:
And you can see how my list of activities has evolved over the years as my daughters get older in these posts from previous years: my list for 11 year olds, for 9 year olds, for 7 year olds, for 6 year olds, for 5 year olds, for 4 year olds, and for 3 year olds.
If you're looking for ways to add a little cheer without a lot of effort I hope these ideas will help!
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