I made this advent calendar years ago and I fill it with an activity to do each day in the days leading up to Christmas. Historically, I have just put blank pieces of paper in the calendar and then frantically tried to come up with something each day with whatever supplies I had on hand. This year I want to do better! So I’m trying to map out the month now to make sure I have all of the supplies I need. Last year I was also inspired by this blog and I tried to add in some more Catholic stuff to the advent calendar. With advance planning I’m hoping to do even better this year!
Here’s my list of Advent Activities so far. They’re pretty much all from the aforementioned blog. 🙂
- 1st Sunday of Advent. Light the first advent calendar at dinner!
- St Nicholas Day Eve. Ok, I just made that up, but this is the day that the kids will put their shoes out for St Nicholas Day. lol.
- St Nicholas Day. The kids will get a little (to be determined) treat in the shoes and we will probably watch a little show about St Nicholas.
- Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. I think we will have some white cookies.
- Feast Day of St Juan Diego. Hot chocolate!
- Feast Day of Our Lady of Loreto. Gingerbread Houses.
- Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Maybe Pan de Dulce?
- St Lucia Day. We’ll make St Lucia buns!
- Christmas Eve Mass!
As you can see, there are still loads of empty days. Some of those will be dates that we have something planned (Kate’s Christmas party, a trip to see family, etc.) and then some of them will be what I call filler days which can be done on any day. I’m thinking this year, we these will include decorating Christmas Cookies, making an ornament, taking a walk to see the Christmas lights, basically I need to give it some thought. But I wanted to share these date specific ones ahead of time. 🙂
My goal with advent this year is to have loads of fun while still encouraging the kids (especially Kate) to learn a bit more about our faith. 🙂