In our home, we celebrate Christmas each year. As a child, I remember enjoying Advent calendars each holiday season. Now my parents have an Advent tree which my children select ornaments for when they visit. I thought it would be fun to enjoy the anticipation of the holiday in our home with some sort of daily countdown.
I get a lot of pleasure from repurposing materials, so I collected infant socks from friends (some had pairs, most did not) and gave them a new life.
You will need twenty-four socks for a daily countdown from December 1st through Christmas Eve. You can hang the socks using clothes pins or ornament hooks. Hang them on a small tree or on a garland of greenery, ribbon, twine, cording, or a length of fairy lights, as we did.
Stuff each sock with something special of your choice! Small gifts, ornaments, quotes, chocolates, homemade gift certificates for a special activity or outing with your child, and coins all work well. Make sure you tuck an item for each child into each sock!
To help little ones in the countdown, simply write a number of each date on the clothespins.
You can also add a special Christmas marker for the 25th, so the children can visually understand why there was no sock past 24.
Enjoy the anticipation and celebration of the holiday season, a little bit each day. Happy Holidays!
::::::::::::
Nicola lives in Northern California with her husband and two young children. Her family strives toward balance in their frugal and earth friendly urban life. She’s always looking for the sweet spots in her days, which are spent enjoying a little nature, a bit of crafting, a lot of day-dreaming, and always family. She can occasionally be found writing and crafting for others, but can always be found on her blog, Which Name?.