Month of JOY: Advent Calendars

December is Finally here and the Christmas season is in full swing. Nothing brings more JOY to a child's heart than the arrival of Santa. But if you are like me and a mama of little ones it can be hard to explain that Santa is not coming today...and no he is not coming tomorrow either. So help your little one curb their enthusiasm with a simple advent calendar. These Christmas Countdowns come in all shapes and sizes and can be as simple or as complex as you would like to make them. 

You can find a few of our favorites on our Pinterest site.

Here are a few ideas:

Make a countdown jar of Christmas activities, do one each day

On a small piece of colorful paper inside write one thing you appreciate or love about Christmas and put inside a small envelope with a few pieces of candy. Clip onto a hanging ribbon.

Use green scrapbook paper to make 24 paper cones, On a piece of paper write down the name of a Christmas song, put underneath each cone. Each day lift the cone (Christmas tree) and sing the song with your family.

Create an activity box filled with 24 craft ideas and supplies (they can be contained in large ziploc bags) and do one Christmas craft a day with your little ones.

From our friends at Wikipedia: An Advent calendar is a special calendar used to count or celebrate the days in anticipation of Christmas. The days often overlap with the Christian season of Advent. Despite the name, most commercially available Advent calendars begin on December 1, regardless of when Advent begins, which can be as early as November 27 and as late as December 3. Many take the form of a large rectangular card with "windows" of which there are usually 24: one for each day of December leading up to Christmas Day. One is opened every day leading up to Christmas. The calendar windows open to reveal an image, poem, a portion of a story (such as the story of the Nativity of Jesus) or a small gift, such as a toy or a chocolate item. Some calendars are strictly religious, whereas others are secular in content.

Ideas pictured above:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/62600989/christmas-pennant-advent-calendar

http://www.rcwilley.com/blog/34/3522/06_package-advent-36498.jpeg

http://www.twigandthistle.com/blog/2010/11/magnetic-holiday-advent-calendar-diy/

http://spoonful.com/crafts/cone-iferous-advent