Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Christmas Fun!

I've been inspired by my friend, Amy, and her idea of a Christmas Jar. She comes up with ideas of things to do each day of December with her little ones and they draw one out each day.

I need to be able to plan a little bit more - so I'm not doing a jar. But, I have come up with a list of things we can do each day between December 1 and 24!

Here's my list:

* Drive around to see Christmas Lights.
* Watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.
* Read Christmas stories by a fire.
* Advent Wreath: we'll be doing this each Sunday, so I'm counting this for four days worth.
* Make Cookies.
* Attend a live nativity.
* Watch Charlie Brown Christmas.
* Go to the nearest mall and ride the Christmas train ($1/ride).
* Attend the musical at church.
* Decorate Tree (we did this over the weekend)
* Play the ornament game. (A game my sister and I made up when we were little!)
* Star gaze; read the Christmas Story (Luke) and drink hot cocoa.
* Watch the Grinch.
* Rent Polar Express: watch together and have hot chocolate!
* Pop popcorn and play a game together. (Amy's idea!)
* Color or paint a Christmas coloring page.
* Have a Nutcracker Night - crack pecans for gifts, listen to Nutcracker, eat sugared pecans.
* Watch Frosty the Snowman.
* Make orange snowmen.
* Make a Glory Chain.
* Host an Advent Walk - Mitford style!
* Volunteer as a family.
* Festival of Lights drive through.
* Christmas Eve traditions.
* Christmas holiday parade or boat parade.

Some of these will not make sense until I post further details on what I have in mind - so just keep watching! I'll look forward to sharing pictures and more info on these activities! Almost all of these are free or can be done at home!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love your list. It is fun to see what other family's will be doing to invite the holiday spirit into their family. We have been working on our list also. As my girls are now 13, 9, 7 they are really into bakeing. We have made a list of items they would like to bake these season. It also includes some candy making. This also includes some planning. Did like the jar idea think I might put a little twist on it. I might fill it with good deed ideas that the children can do for each other, or a nieghbor. I feel like this is such a wonderful time to teach them about service. Although we do service projects all through the year. I love the spirit that seems to wash over my older children at Christmas time. They really want to do things. We are also doing the 12 day's of Christmas to a family, we do it secretly. Each night we have something that we have come up with. We leave it on the door step, ring the door bell and run. Later will be listing what we are doing. They are so excited about doing this. These are just a few of our Christmas activities that are coming.

Anonymous said...

Great list -- an action Advent calendar! :) I look forward to hearing about these as they take place! And I am looking forward to being there to share Christmas with all of you! Love, Mom

Unknown said...

This is a great idea!! We have a game of "I Saw It First" that we play...but I love the idea of doing something each night.

*carrie* said...

Great ideas, Monica!

Anonymous said...

We are doing this too, except I stamped the numbers 1-25 on red envelopes and we will open one each day. That way I can plan a little better for the day, depending on weather, etc. Thanks for all the fun ideas!

being molded said...

What a wonderful idea! I will be asking my family what they would like to do tonight!

Anonymous said...

I did this with my 3 boys for many years (they are men now) and they still talk fondly of it. We made gingerbread men out of paper bags, decorated them with markers and then I wrote something to do each day on the back. They were hung on a garland in the kitchen. Such excitment each morning Dec, 1 thru Christmas . Thanks for reminding me of wonderful days.

~katie~ said...

Great ideas!! Perfect for adding a bit of excitment to our homeschool activities - thanks!

Ellie said...

What great ideas!! Thanks so much!
Blessings,
Ellie

Charlotte Cushman said...

Monica - you can borrow our copy of Polar Express if you want. We also have Spot's Christmas, The Nativity, and the original Miracle on 34th Street.

ml4estsmommy said...

The Christmas Jar idea is great!! I wrap our Christmas story books with Christmas wrap and place under the tree. Beginning Dec 1, my 2 preschoolers can choose a "gift" to unwrap and the books we read before naptime are revealed. We usually cuddle under the Christmas tree to read the books and our bedtime music is always soft Christmas music.

Blessings,
Mary Lynn