The holidays this year are one big guessing game. Many traditions, unfortunately, are just not going to be able to happen and many families won't get to spend this time together like they usually would.
But this doesn't mean the Christmas spirit has to be gone completely. Growing up, one of the things I looked forward to the most during the Christmas season was our advent calendars. My mom would buy us chocolate advent calendars and each morning my younger brother and I would rush to the kitchen to see what chocolate shapes awaited us that day. We also had a family advent calendar. It was a fabric tree that hung on the wall with numbered pockets underneath. Each pocket held an ornament that would attach to the tree so that by Christmas, we had a full Christmas tree hanging on the wall. Thinking back on these Christmas traditions is what inspired the newest product in our shop. We've created a Christmas in Quarantine Advent Calendar so that you can enjoy Christmas fun even while social distancing. It's called the Quarantine Christmas Countdown and you can check it out in our Etsy shop!
This tree is donned with 24 small activities your family can do together to spread some Christmas cheer. They are not numbered, so you can do them in the order that fits around your own schedule and needs.
Once an activity has been completed, simply color in that ornament. By Christmas morning, you'll have a full Christmas tree hanging on your wall and a month full of fun family memories to look back on. Who says celebrating Christmas in quarantine can't be fun or magical? Some additional ideas to make the big day special:
What are some of your ideas for celebrating Christmas in quarantine?
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Have you noticed that Thanksgiving is really late in November this year? That means you won't have a lot of extra days to get your advent plans ready after the feast is over. Now is the time to plan ahead to do those little extra things for your kids that make the season more magical.
When my kids were young, it seemed like we always did a couple of different ways to help us to count down the days until Christmas. We had the Christmas tree banner with pockets that held decorations to put on it each day until the 24th. We did chocolate calendars. The kids usually came home from school with some sort of advent, like the Santa that you put a beard on with cotton balls one day at a time. We often did the Christmas book each night idea that Alicia wrote about here, or read a Christmas chapter book. The anticipation was palpable and the advent calendars were a simple way to make everyday seem a little bit like Christmas.
In past years, we have shared some favorite printable advent calendars and we have created our own as well. In 2017, Alicia came up with this 12 days of Christmas punch card calendar that helps keep Christ as the center of your Christmas. Since it is only 12 days, you can start it later in the month, or even go beyond Christmas day. Also, it is a pocket sized card that everyone can keep with them. There are some other good ideas on that post as well.
Alicia also came up with this adorable DIY Chain Calendar. It isn't printable, but simple to make and look at my adorable grandson while you are at it.
Reading Calendars
Since Alicia shared her favorite Christmas books with you, I thought I would share some ways to make using them as a countdown even more enjoyable than just reading them, (which is pretty enjoyable anyway)!
A New Keeping Christ in Christmas Calendar
I have shared some great keeping Christ in Christmas ideas with you in past years. This year I have found one that is really awesome! For the past couple of years, we have taken part in the Light the World advent that has helped us remember Christ throughout the Christmas season. Your Everyday Family has also followed that program and has shared a simple way to add a scripture, hymn or thought each day as stickers that go on Hershey Kisses! A jar of these kisses would be perfect on someone's desk at work. Or, you could fill up the jar with enough kisses that every family member can pick one each day! (There may be duplicates, but that is okay!)
I printed some up on sticker paper, cut them out and then peeled and stuck them onto the Kisses. I used the red, green and silver kisses, but the candy cane ones would be super cute, too.
The scriptures on this free printable come from the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants. If you need copies of any of these, you can request them for FREE from this site!
A Free Printable From 3 Winks!
My idea for this printable advent calendar came as I was cutting out the circles from the Your Everyday Family printable. (If I had had a large enough hole punch, it would have been a big help!) I have some Avery round labels that fit on the back of small York Peppermint Patties! I thought, I could make an activity type advent with those and they wouldn't require cutting! If you have an advent calendar that has pockets or drawers, you can use these to fill it this year!
I purposely left the numbers off of these printable tags so that you can arrange them in your drawers or pockets in a way that will be convenient for your family. I also give you more than 24 ideas so that you can use some and not others that you may not want to do. There are also some blank tags so that if you have an idea that you want to add, you can just fill it in.
I used Avery labels #94507 to print these labels. Click the button below for the pdf file.
If you do have some great ideas to use as an Advent Activity that I haven't included, please share them in the comments! We always love new ideas!
So, don't wait until after Thanksgiving! Plan ahead and make life easier and more magical for your kids at the same time. Okay, I couldn't wait to share this one!
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Happy Labor Day Weekend! Hopefully you are able to stay home and have the day off from work. If not, maybe this recipe will still give you some comfort! I love to make something a little special when everyone is off for a day from school or work. So, on Saturday I made these Oatmeal Chocolate Muffins. Not only are they tasty, especially when hot out of the oven, but they are like eating your oatmeal with some chocolate chips sprinkled on top. That sounds really healthy to me! Really, they probably have less sugar in them than you sprinkle on your oatmeal in the morning anyway.
One batch of this recipe makes about 11 muffins. We enjoyed them with bacon, eggs over easy and some fruit! It was a great breakfast, and I always feel like a big breakfast makes any day special! I wasn't hungry again until dinner time! Here are some things you'll need!
Other Muffin Recipes you may enjoy!
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Now that Thanksgiving is over it's time to start thinking about Christmas, and my favorite tradition is the Advent Calendar! I did a similar post to this last year where I shared the best printable advent calendars of 2018.
This year I'm just going to share some favorite advent calendars I've found. And I'll remind you of these two we made and shared with you last year. A printable punch card with scriptures to read each day. And a reusable, felt, countdown chain. Best Advent Calendars of 2018Light the World 2018
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints makes this calendar each year to help us focus on the reason for the season, Jesus! It's always service oriented and this year is really cool because each week they have us focusing on a different way to light the world, starting with the world, then local community, then family, then yourself (self-care ya know!)! I love it and I'm excited to do it with my family.
Wooden Nativity Advent Calendar
Dog Advent Calendar
Printable Village Advent Calendar
Eric Carle Pop-Up Calendar
And there you have it! my favorite advent calendars of this year! Do you do advent calendars? What are your favorites? |
Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
May 2024
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