Advent 2018 {Days 1-5}

Advent is here! I am all about creating memories and traditions, while at the same time keeping things simple. What is the point of making traditions if you are stressed out trying to make them happen? The purpose of our advent activities are to spend quality time together, enjoy the season, and to learn about the birth of Jesus and the things that make him happy (like worship, family, and blessing others). With that said, many of our activities are simple. Some required planning, but even the planning was fairly easy. Other activities were done with items we already have at home. My point is, you do not have to make yourself crazy trying to make memories with your family! Here is a recap of our first five days. 

Day 1: Open new Christmas jammies, make Christmas pretzels, and watch "The Grinch" as a family. 

I bought Jade these Christmas cat jammies last month and we planned to stay in and watch The Grinch (Netflix for the win!) while making these festive pretzels. She loved getting to open a present and the pretzels were so simple that Jade was able to help. We kept some at home and also passed some out to Jade's Sunday school teachers the next morning. 

Day 2: Read "The Christmas Story" and get out Little People Nativity Scene.

My mom bought this book for Jade for her first Christmas, so it is a book we have had around for a little while. She also bought Jade her Nativity set. It has been put away with the Christmas things, so getting it out was new and exciting and Jade felt like she was getting a new toy. She calls the characters her "friends" and it is so precious! 

Day 3: Spread out blankets on the living room floor and get out all of our Christmas story books.

This was another simple and easy activity! We spread out all of the books and looked through them. Jade wanted to read "Pick A Pine Tree" and "Small, Medium, and Large." Then she spent time looking through the other books. I love having seasonal books on hand! We put some hot chocolate in a thermos and enjoyed it while reading. 

Our current Christmas book collection: | The Polar Express | Small, Medium, and Large | Snow | The Night Before Christmas | The Christmas Story | The Legend Of The Candy Cane | Pick A Pine Tree | The Crippled Lamb | 

Day 4: Review the Christmas Story characters and play with Nativity stickers.

I bought these stickers from Michael's last year. There were several sets that came in the pack so I kept the extras. We ended up putting them in her baby book as an advent keepsake. 

Day 5: Surprise Daddy at work with his favorite hot chocolate. 

 Any excuse to go to Starbucks, right?! Haha, Brian's favorite hot chocolate is the Snickerdoodle one from Starbs, so this was a fun opportunity to bring him one while he was at work. Jade was so excited to go see her daddy during the work day.

Thanks for reading!! Hope you are enjoying this magical season with loved ones. 

xx,

Court