Holiday Advent Activity List

Like so many friends this year, we are incorporating activities into our advent calendar. Ours is a wooden reindeer with Hersey kisses and card in each drawer with an activity.

During the busy week are doing the less labor intensive ideas.  Last night we worked on Day 1 of a Lego Snowscape rebuilding some of the figures from last year's advent calendar. 

On the weekends we have picked a longer activity for each day to enjoy. 

Like last year, Bill and I did a date night in November and defined:

1.  Gotta do
2.  Would like to do it
3.  Not happening this year

I cannot tell you how much time and energy this saves having our nights and weekend filled with activities we WANTED to do over feeling OBLIGATED to do.   

Here's the List.  Several items we have already done or they are ongoing all season!

1.  Decorate and fill a box of goodies for Uncle Brian
2.  New Hill Valley Santa train
3.  Pullen Park Holiday Express
4.  Shaving cream/Lego table landscape
5.  Attend Nutcracker
6.  Date night with each boy to pick brother and dad gifts
7.  Eat Santa shaped Krispy Kreams... even got them HOT!
8.  Annual "tackiest ("crazy house"- Ian age 2) neighborhood house competition
9.  Breakfast for dinner
10. Make ornaments for our tree
11.  Write a letter and also see Santa
12.  Read nightly two Christmas books by the tree
13.  Travel to see Meadow Lights on Christmas Eve
14.  Family movie night, holiday edition in pjs
15.  Buy and wrap gifts for our Durham Rescue Mission Family
16.  Write a letter and send pictures to Siprin and her family in Kenya
17.  Make a gingerbread house
18.  Take the train to the Greenboro Children's museum
19.  Make a thank you card for teacher's gift cards
20.  Portable North Pole Video
21.  Santa Workshop Clay Class (Ben) 
22.  Find as many public places to wear reindeer ears as possible!
23.  Mom plays nightly Christmas carols on the piano using her and Mema's collection of holiday song books