December 4, 2009

Countdown to Christmas

We're getting ready for Christmas with a couple of advent calendars. The first one I picked up at Goodwill for 2.99 a month or so ago. It had a creepy snowman climbing up the side of the house, so I had to do a little renovation and repainting. The house has the bones of the old houses around here, so I tried to be true to those. I need to repaint the drawers, but that will have to come next year as I have no stencil I like for the numbers.

Though I'm happy with it, there's not very much room for more than the slips of paper with scriptures on them. So, I made this. I saw something in Good Housekeeping magazine when I was at the dentist last week. Inside are treats and toys to add to the theology the children were so unimpressed by. I simply sewed bags from fabric I had and some more holiday fabric from Mardens. The tags are from a free pdf online. The clothespins are from off the line outside, and the ribbon from the dollar store. I'll probably make some changes in the years to come, but it's ok for this year.

5 comments:

  1. That is really cute Bekah. I kind of want to know what's in them because I can't even think of anything good for that.

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  2. thanks mighty. Inside are mini candy bars left over from Halloween, granola bars, dollar store toys like silly putty, puzzles, stickers, fruit roll ups, stuff like that. I spent about $15 on the fillers for both kids, which I thought was not overly extravagant. I felt like the idea was not to overload them w/ presents, but to get them excited about Christmas.

    Also, I tried to put activities on the weekends and vacation days. If I were planning ahead even better, I'd put their pj's on the 24th, and Christmas dresses on the 1st Sunday of Dec. Next year.

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  3. I really like this idea, too. Very crafty and clever. I'd like to do this in years to come when I will actually have a child old enough to appreciate it.:-)

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  4. I love advent calendars. I found one 2 years ago that is a hand made patch work quilt that you hang up, I love it, but it's also too small to put anything inside.

    That wooden one is darling. nice find.

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  5. Ooo. I like. I've always meant to make one (or find one) but have never got around to it. In Kurt's family the 'elf' leaves a little paper with a clue on it where the treat is hidden. They still all run around looking for it.

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