A Holiday Blitz Event you won’t want to miss!

We just do the standard chocolate advent calendar. However, I have seen some very cool homemade advent calendars that I might give a go with this year!

I start by decorating my home and office. I start playing christmas music while at work to be in a happy mood. I have a ceramic santa with day blocks that helps me count down the days.

LOVE the planner! As far as counting down to Christmas goes, as a child my sister and I used the Advent calendar my grandmother made for us. It’s a big tree and each day you add ornaments. That tradition has been passed down to my children who use the same calendar my grandmother made for me!

We celebrate the holiday with a Jesse tree. We read a passage from the Bible each day. We start with the story of Creation on Dec 1 and end with Jesus’ birth on Christmas eve. We try to make an ornament for our tree representing each story, but usually miss a few days here or there

It’s really helped us keep our focus on what Christmas means to our family!

We have a count down each year with a secret santa for someone in our neighborhood or church. We have the 24 day count down where we do something or give something to this family without them knowing who is the person giving the gifts or service. We have done this for many years as a family. It is a great service project and everyone loves the fact that the families are never to find out who was doing the service. We start on Dec 1st and wrap up the 24th by leaving christmas dinner all prepared on the door step the 24th. One of the tricts is finding out who will be at home for the holiday to share with for 24 days. If they happen to change their plans and not be home on Christmas day the christmas feast is given to a family that you know wil be home. We have only had one year that we had to change our plan. all the other 20 plus years we have been successful. Maybe we will be your secret santa this year. Beware of fun gifts and service projects happpening in your neightborhood. Happy Holidays

We discovered a German tradition last year and my kids fell in love with it! Starting with the first of December you hide a fake pickle ornament in your tree. We let the kids find the pickle everyday till Christmas. The one who finds it the most gets an extra little something (from the dollar store on christmas eve. We gave the other two a piece of candy for trying. My kids are already asking me when we are going to hide the pickle…and our tree isn’t even up yet!

WE call it moms 25 crafts till christmas. My boys and i spand at least 1 hour everyday doing christmas projects anything from cards for troops to shopping for a toy for the local toy drives. Its a great way to get into the spirit.

My son love doing the advent calendars. He is 11 and can’t wait for this year to begin. Great idea, love this planner.

My children are small and this is the first year I will be starting a tradition. I will start by doing the countdown to christmas by opening a little box of candy each day and pull out a strip of paper that has Bible verses to read that refer to the birth of Jesus. Everyday we will add more to the story and once a week one of those papers will list an activity such as making an ornament, singing christmas carols, playing a christmas game, go look at lights etc.
I love your tutorial. If I don’t win it, I am still willing to pay for it if you will put it in your store.

Love this project!

In our home we make one ornament for each member of the family to put on the tree. When our children our grown they can take their’s to start their own collection with their family.

Hugs and Blessings
Alicia

We have this great advent calendar that the kids love to use. It never changes but the kids make it seem like it is brand new every year.

Thanks for your question!

Another winning project Andrea!!

To count down to Christmas we buy an Advent Calendar together and hang it in the kitchen. Each day the kids take turns opening the windows. We try to get a religious one and say a prayer each day of Advent when we open the windows.

Andrea, first welcome back, and then this is a beautiful project. Shows your special touch. I count down to Christmas by inwardly screaming and pulling out my hair because I’m never caught up. I need this planner for sure!

Mary
http://www.primitiveseasons.blogspot.com

We have an advent calendar that we made at church years ago. The kids still love to move the star each day!

We do the chocolate advent calendar and I have a hanging snowman with little pockets to count down the days with. But I did purchase the rub-on one from SU and hope to get my project made in the next day or so! Will post on my blog when I do!

Thanks for a chance to win this! I could use a little ornanization! X-ing my fingers!

What a fabulous planner!

We have a few special things we do here for the holidays, but my kids enjoy the advent calendar the best.

we start the season off by my daughter picking a name off the giving tree at school. She then has her name to shop for a special gift for a child in need. We decorate after Thanksgiving and then we have a santa countdown and we change the numbers daily. I did purchase the christmas countdown vinyl (home decor by Stampin up!) and will be making our own advent calendar. I hope that is one of your free tutorials!!!! LOL. Glad you are back and looking forward to all the great ideas. Denise

I don’t do a traditional countdown, but I have some favorite holiday books that I always pull out. I read some every day until Christmas.

Welcome back!!!

Oh My!! This project is fabulous Andrea!! We do the advent calendars, we get out our nativity sets, and we talk a lot about what Christmas means – trying to counteract all the consumerism of the season.

I have an Advent calendar that I use in my classroom. Each day my students have a small ornament to move to the tree. They love it! Welcome back!

For Christmas countdown I made a countdown calendar from my son made out of 2×2 wood blocks and he really enjoys changing the numbers each day as we get closer to Christmas.

We love to use an advent calendar to count down the days until christmas. The project is absolutely beautiful (as usual).

I have an advent box and each day the boys get to open a box. They are notes of things they should do (call someone far away that is lonely, turn out the lights tonight and look at the Christmas tree lights as a family, etc.) or a small surprise of money or something that they can choose like a meal for the day. They love it and so do I.

The Planner…Love IT Love IT Love IT.
I start decorating and baking cookies the day after Thanksgiving. We have lots of cookies and decorations by Christmas Time. Now putting them back up takes awhile, sometimes longer than getting them out.

What a great project. I think I will do a variation of it for my next stamp camp. I have a gazillion of these tins, it will be nice to use some up! Thanks for the inspiration!!

Love, Love, Love the planner. Twelve days from Christmas, I start sending an email to every current customer and send one everyday until Christmas. “On the 12th day of Christmas my Demo sent to me…” Each day I send either a coupon to be used the next year, instructions for a special fold or technique, picture of a card with instructions, etc.

As my children are grown, I now share the excitement of the Christmas countdown with my grandchildren–it’s putting up the Christmas decorations, baking special Christmas cookies, crafting and watching Christmas movies. They love it!

Love the Christmas planner. I don’t really do anything to countdown to Christmas. Since it is just me in the house now, I keep things pretty simple for the holidays.

For us we celebrate the start of Santa’s busy season by writing letters after Thanksgiving(U.S.) and go on Black Friday and get brand new P.J’s that we will wear on Christmas eve. Then every Friday before Christmas we read a Christmas story before bed instead of a just a reg.story I love every moment of it!

I am so glad to see you are “back”…we’ve missed all your clever projects.
I have waaay more classes and events in Nov and Dec to help everyone get ready early

We have a calendar with pictures from last christmas that we pull the pages off of everyday. By the way can we buy the cd tin planner. I would be willing to buy it. It sounds like others would be too.

What a gorgeous planner! When we were kids we did the advent calendar but this is my fiance and my first christmas alone so I’m going to read other people’s traditions and see if we can get ideas to start our own!

When my kids were small we had several advent calendars…new one every year. One year we did the Jesse Tree and I made all the pieces for that. Then my friend made a tree out of felt with numbered stars on it that had velcro on the back and each day you placed a star on the tree. The white circle velcro looks like snow when the stars aren’t on.

GORGEOUS project Andrea!
I’ve been wanting to create an advent calendar since last Christmas. Our countdown begins with our first pot of mulled wine of the season on December 1st! The Christmas baking the end of the first week… the tree goes up the second week and than we just wing it!
Cheers.

I didn’t do a countdown with my boys but I want to with my grandson. Thanks for the awesome giveaway.

What a fantastic project! I do have an advent calendar that I put up each year, but because my kids are grown and moved out, I don’t do anything with it other than have it out. I’ve seen a lot of great countdowns on blogs this year that have inspired me, so am working on some ideas for a countdown on my own blog in December.

I love the planner, well actually I love everything you do. Our children are grown but still at home. We usually have our tree up and the house completely decorated by the first of December. The only gifts we buy are a couple of small ones for each other (hubby, me & 2 kids) and our great-great nephew. His gift is already purchased. We do have a count down snowman that the numbers hang on his body. We change the numbers everyday. I just love the sights and smells of Christmas, but hate that is has gotten so out of hand. Thanks for all the sharing you do.

I don’t count down the individual days but I do count the weeks. Each of the four Wednesdays until Christmas we have Advent services at my church. It is a beautiful service and highlights what the season is really about.

Love the planner. About the 1st of dec. I make my list of things to be done. Whento start cookies for my cookie trays, whne I need to be finished with my Christmas cards etc. When I’m done I cross them off and hope they all get done in time.
Sherry

OOPS – I meant to say that we love to do an advent calendar WITH OUR children. Poor little sweeties. Sorry for the typo. Guess I’ll need to slow down and check my spelling before posting.
Robyn

When my children were small, I had a cling Christmas Tree that went on the front of our refrigerator, and each day one of the children could add an ornament. I also had an advent calendar that they could open and get a prize.
Now I just go about the devorating and cookie and candy and card making starting the day after Thanksgiving and hope to be done the week before Christmas.

Nov.24th we start with theee list:
a needy family??, church activities??, cards made & addressed, checking my gift list, adding,& trying to cut back,sewing special projects, including embroidering items, too.
AND..who could forget the Christmas carol cd’s being organized, on & on, whatever comes to mind, as weel, making sure the mitten box has my annual donation of mitts.
I love the season!

That is a GREAT project!!! We don’t do anything to count down. I’m usually too busy getting cards made & in the mail, gifts bought, baking done, etc.

Every year my 2 best friends and I and our kids get together to decorate gingerbread houses. We each bring our house and candy that we share and decorate our houses and the landscaping. We have been doing this for over 25 years. The kids started out by using a half pint whip cream container and cut out the door and windows, then when they get older go to half gallon milk carton and then to gingerbread or chocolate houses. Now my kids are grown and I have 2 granddaughters and they are making houses now. We have so much fun. Sometimes we don’t see each other for months, but we always set aside 1 day each year for our gingerbread houses.

We would write down something nice that we shared or did something for someone each day of Advent. Realizing how easy this was for my children – it helped them to see that they could do a good deed each day -not just during Advent.

LOVE your ideas. You are a great inspiration! Welcome back!

What a great planner!

My twins each have a chocolate advent calendar.

I love this DVD planner! We ususally don’t do anything too special when it comes to counting down, but sometimes we make a paper chain and tear one off for everyday till Christmas. Hears to winning!

Since our children are grown and no longer live at home, our count-down to Christmas has changed over the years. We start by decorating our main tree on Thanksgiving night when some of my children are home. Then for the next 7 days, I decorate a tree for each room in my house…some are small and some are 7′tall! My house looks like a Christmas shop when I get through! Then each day until Christmas Eve, I make something Christmas related….handmade gifts, homemade goodies. This is my favorite time of the year and I try to enjoy every minute of it!

This year, I am starting a new tradition – making most of my Christmas cards. WOW…it has been an undertaking.

We begin the outside decorations/lights soon and after that is finished, we will start working on the inside tree and other decorations.

I also love to bake cookies, make pies and dabble in making different candies.

Christmas is my favorite time of the year, as my son and his family are home for part of the holidays.

We don’t do anything to count down to Christmas. This year we will be going on vacation right before Christmas, so the countdown to Christmas is also the countdown to the end of our vacation. : (

I love the planner! From the first day of December we start decorating the house and tree. We enjoy it very much. We also start counting the days til Christmas.

Awesome little planner girl! I saw an idea this year to make a “25 Days of Christmas”. Not sure where I saw it but will make my own book up for it. In this book, a memory of the day is written until Christmas. I think doing this each year then reading the ones from the past years will be fun and probably give a good laugh!

I have been working on a home made advent calendar to use for the first time with my children. We usually just countdown the days until Christmas and go shopping as a family with a visit to Santa.

Many, MANY years ago I made an advent calendar for each of my children and my niece and nephew out of felt and filled the pockets with homemade chocolates from a mold specifically for an advent calendar. My granddaughter will be old enough next year to continue the tradition, so I’ll make one for her and her brother (who is only 2 months old) this year and have it ready for the holidays next year.
I’m very excited to see what you have in store for the upcoming month or so … you are amazing, Andrea.

Since my oldest was in kindergarten we’ve been counting the days using a cute little wooden snowman figure (purchased from a school fundraiser) that has round discs with number that hang front he front of his bely. Each day we change the numbers, counting down the days ’til x-mas.

However, this year in addition to the snowman countdown, i purchased three chocolate advent calendars for the boys to count down with!! Fun and different!
Happy Holidays~

Welcome back, Andrea!
Man do I need an organizer like this about now!

We have a handmade advent calendar where every day you turn over one piece of a larger manger scene. I love it and always have.

I love your planner! We still do the chocolate Advent calendars even though the kids are grown and have done other things in the past like paper chains and then remove one each day. I did purchase the Decor Elements Countdown set so now I just need to get it made.

I would love to win this but would also be happy to buy it! You know how much I love your projects! We do a take-off of the standard advent calender. Not so much a chocolate theme but something sweet everyday, an orange, some almond roca or even a hug.

Absolutely adorable project!!!

When I was a child my family would always count down the last 10 days till Christmas by putting the Christmas tree up on my birthday(the 15th). Since both my parents are gone now, my husband and I carry on that same tradition each year. It helps me to feel like my parents are still a part of our Christmas. Happy Holidays to you and yours! =)

I have started a tradition with my kids. We hand stamp a simple advent calendar. The kids stamp each day on a mini envelope. Then we decorate with Christmas stamps. The envelopes are hung up with mini clothespins and twine across the mantle, like a garland. In each envelope we add a family activity that needs to be completed that day. I am keeping each advent calendar in a seperate container so they can have when they get older. I like the family activities in the advent instead of candy, because it really gets us to spend more quality time together!!

I totally love your planner!!!

We use the chocolate advent calendar as well as a small Santa calendar that has two blocks that you countdown the days with. wow, it’s time to get those things out soon, hey??

Love the planner, thanks for the opportunity to win it!

Alison

My mom made the kids a Quilt that has a Christmas tree on it with ornaments. They start along the side of the quilt, and as they count down, they take them from the sides to the tree. You end with the star ornament on top.

Love the project.

Ooh, I love this project, how clever! I adore your blog, Andrea, you are so talented. Thank-you so much for sharing your work with us!

We count down to Christmas with a quilted Advent Calander that I made when I was pregnant with my first son (he’s 2 now). Christmas this year will be so much more fun now that he can understand about presents and Santa and everything!

Hi Andrea and Sophie,

First of all I would like to welcome you back to the blogging world. I’m sure it must feel great to be back creating.

My favourite thing to do since I was a child is to open the chocolate advent calendar’s each year. I couldn’t wait to open the last day as it meant Santa would soon be here. I have now start the tradition with my own girls and they are just as excited as me to open them each day wondering what character would be on the chocolate that day.

Thanks for sharing the Holiday Blitz with us and I can’t wait to see the other projects.

Anne

Hi Andrea!

We do 2 things to count down….we make a paper chain with candy on the back….5 pieces for each child per day. It starts out really long, but as they cut off the candy is grows shorter and shorter. We also have a Santa advent pocket calendar where we move a little stuffed Santa marker each day. Such fun!

Thanks to Dena Rekow’s adorable cookie sheet/tins Advent calendar project, I will counting down the days with it this year. Treats will go in each tin for the kids to open.

Welcome back! This is such an awesome project! Our Holiday Tradition is getting together with my cousins and now all of our kids. We started doing this before we all got married, and had kids, and now we’re the “old” people and we watch the ‘kids’ run circles around us! We have dinner and we used to do gag gifts, but now we just get together and EAT. It is good because now that my grandparents are all gone, it keeps our family together, and gets our kids to stay in touch with each other.

I am soo glad you are back…I missed you!

I don’t do anything special to count down the days…we’ll maybe I do the week before we get out of school. I love the friday before break…lots of good cheer in the air and lots of movies to see! Have a great day! kt

Our grandkids have special Advent boxes that we fill for them every year with little gifts. They get to open a box daily after dinner and then they call us with their “news” and wish us a good night.

Great project! We do an advent calender with those sick little waxy chocolates in them. They’re usually of the SpongeBob/Spiderman variety. I really need to make myself a cute advent calender…

Thanks for the chance to win!

Brandi

Since my children are no longer living at home, my Christmas countdown is very different. On the home front, I decorate the house during the Thanksgiving weekend. I am a 1st grade teacher so I plan a special activity for my students each day in December. We make ornaments, cards, etc for the children to share with their loved ones.

Thanks for the opportunity to win the tutorial.

We always had an advent calendar with candy. My kids got to have the candy on the day based on whether they were an odd or even age that year to avoid arguing over who got to have “Christmas Day” They are grown now so we have moved away from that over the last few years. Guess I have to wait for grandkids

Great project as usual.

Love the planner. I have several of those DVD containers setting in my craftroom unloved and neglected. What a perfect project for them. As to what we do for a count down. My four kids and I read stories about Christmas every night before they go to bed. One each night starting on the First of December. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the month brings. Thanks, Tonya

We start the Christmas season by lighting our house light on Thanksgiving evening. After dinner my grandson gets to flip the switch for the lights. We always decorate the tree and put up the rest of the decorations the day following Thanksgiving. This starts the season for us. This year I will be teaching my 4 grandchildren some wonderful craft items to give their parents & other grandparents as gifts. Since everyone is budgeting, I thought this would be a fun way to teach them to be clever and resourceful. Glad to have you back, Andrea. I hope you will offer the tin planner for purchase.

We always did an advent calendar when the kids were home. Now I just develop increasing panic with each day as I am trying to complete my 160 Christmas cards. I just started them yesterday!!!

Love your planner as well as all of your other wonderful projects. Thanks for sharing your talent.

Merry Christmas and God bless you!

My kids are teenagers so we’ve really gotten away from counting down until Christmas. I miss that. Maybe that is a tradition I should bring back. If so, I love some of the different ideas that I have seen decorating mini tins and adhering them to a frame, then filling with chocolate!

The planner is awesome!

We don’t do anything right now but my son is two and I have a felt advent calendar that I play on hanging up at Christmas time and filling the days with fun Christmas events.
I love your project!

Guess I’m like kids in school.. didn’t read all the way down.. I’ve made one advent calendar and making another for my grandchildren, but I just mark days off the calendar and read all the emails telling us how many days we have til Christmas.. it seems to just creep up faster and faster each year!! Love the project.. have a CD tin I could use to make one!! TFS.

Our children take out all our holiday themed books at the beginning of December and with each passing day, we read one of our favorite stories together.

I would love to check out this planner. No we do not do any special coundow till christmas.

Vivian Swain

We don’t do an advent calendar but I have a “countdown” felt “days of Christmas” that has a snowflake attached to stick in a pocket for ea. day. That’s about it since the kids got married. Love the planner. But being this far down on the totem pole the chances of being picked are “slim & NIL”!!! lol!! Good luck to the winner.

My kids and I make a project of some sort where you remove the piece each day until Christmas and they get once small piece of candy after they remove the piece.

Thanks for letting me play along.
It looks like a cute project that I would love to do.

What an absolutely fabulous project!

Our Christmas Countdown is very simple. It’s one my mom did with my brother and me when I was little. My son and daughter make paper chains 2 weeks before Christmas and hang them by their bedroom doors. Each night before bed, the rip off a link. Simple, but so much fun!

Hugs!

Your the bomb! I just love this. I have tins but am afraid to try anything with them.

We used to do advent calender and candles. It really always started with St. Nicholas Day (December 6th) Something small in their shoe outside bedroom door. Good children get a treat. ( small tablet, haibands, and so on). Gotta go, looking forward to your countdown:_)

We use a wooden advent calendar- the one that we have has little doors that open. It’s the perfect place to hide little treats/gifts. In our house since we have 2 kids- they usually alternate days on who gets to open.

When I was growing up, we had a long strip of felt that had bows on it- each bow had a iece of candy attached. Now that I have my own kids, they LOVE the Lego Advent Calendar so we always have one of those!

This is a fablulous project, Andrea!!!! Thanks for sharing!

Love your planner!!

Every year my sisters and get together and make take tags with Christmas cards. This year we took professional pictures and were making cards to use with the picture.

Judy

my boys both have advent calendars filled with chocolate pieces. I did make one last year using SU items and put non chocolate items, like read book with mom, 15 min extra TV, etc… but they still like getting their nightly chocolate.

Hi Andrea and Sophia,
I love your website and ALL of your ideas! We always buy an advent calendar with chocolate inside… gotta have the chocolate! I’ve always wanted to make one of the muffin tin advent calendars… maybe this will be the year!
Thanks for being so generous!

We don’t really do a count down, other than how many days do we have left to get things done in time! We usually start decorating right after Thanksgiving. I love baking Christmas cookies and bars so I start early and freeze them.

that planner is awesome!!! we countdown the days with sharing each morning something we’re thankful for and we write it out and put in the advent calendar (instead of taking something out). Then on Christmas morning we take all the “thankful’s” out and read them together.

I am a planner from the word ‘go’ … lists, lists, and more lists…that’s how I do it. I set goals … such a great feeling when I cross them off! This is a darling project!

We usually have an Advent calendar that we count down the days. I like to send one to each of my sons away at college too. We also celebrate St. Nick’s day and get little gifts in anticipation of Christmas. Love the planner. It’s gorgeous and so useful!
Hugs,
Donna

Welcome back!! I’m really excited to see what you have in store for us! I don’t really do anything special to countdown the holidays…christmas is not really a huge thing in my family. Thanks for the chance to win!

My sister made me a Santa advent calendar quite a few years back from wood, which she tole painted. He has a Christmas tree beside him and in his bag holds ornaments that my children (now 21 and 18) would take turns each day adding to the tree. I still get it out and “countdown” the days till Christmas.

(love your dvd tin) MaryJo

I have a advent calendar that is about 25 years old, at he beginning of the months the pockets have dollars or quarters in them as it gets closer to Christmas it has treats or games in it.

My children are grown with children of their own now. But when they were little, many moons ago!, I made a wall hanging with little pockets for each day (which is still around somewhere) and we put mini candy canes in each pocket.

Love this project! We don’t usually do a countdown, but when the kids get out of school we try to make a different kind of cookie each day.

I love that planner, so very festive!!!

We love to watch the 25 days of Christmas on ABC Family, right now they are having a countdown to the start of the 25 days of Christmas

Dawn

Cute planner! I love that paper! When my children were smaller we made construction paper rings and snipped off one each day! The boys loved doing that and couldn’t wait to be the one to cut the ring. I am not sure why that was such a big deal, but they all wanted their turn at cutting. Of course when the days were shorter, mom or dad would have to lift them up to reach the rings.

You come up with the most fun projects. My family is all grown and I just watch the days go by to fast. I hope I get everything done that time allows. Merry Christmas
Shirley

Wow, that tin looks incredible!! To count down the days of Christmas my family crosses off the days in December on a calendar and of course my sister and I get a chocolate calendar.

Erin

We always put the Christmas tree up the day after Thanksgiving, and that begins our countdown. This year my son is 15 months old, so we have some strategic planning to do so as to avoid broken ornaments and premature unwrapped presents. I am so excited to count down the days until Christmas with him. He is such a gem!
I love your work! You are amazing.

My mother made us a Precious Moments advent calendar several years ago. I have four kids and they fight over who gets to put the first piece up on the calendar, because they figured out that the person who puts the first piece on gets to put the last piece on. We always save the piece with the baby Jesus for the last day.

We do several things to countdown the days until Christmas. We have a fun book we read every year “The Christmas Mystery”. We read a chapter each night. Our kids also do the paper advent calendar, opening a window each day. I also have a quilted wall hanging with a Christmas tree and hanging ornaments. Each morning, you move an ornament from the background to the tree. Thanks for offering the fun prize!

So cute!
We have advent calendars I made when the kids were born, in my pre-stamping days (Gasp- is there such a thing??). They are wooden, with little pegs to add lifesavers, and are numbered so they know how many days they have left until Christmas. When they were small, they hung far down the wall– as they’ve grown, the calendars have moved up and up and up…. this year we’ll keep one put away, since for the first time my oldest won’t be home for the holidays. Could be rough…!

We do a count down at the university where I work. As a staff, we have gathered a large collection of “snow people” over the years. Each day after Thanksgiving, we add one more “snow person” to the window ledges in our central area – the scene grows, as does our anticipation for the winter holidays!
I love the planner! What a great gift you and your sister give to the community with your creativity! Thank you for all you do!

Jan

We don’t really have a countdown for Christmas – but I am inspired to do one this year! Thanks for this awesome tutorial blitz and a chance to win too!! You are awesome!!

We do a chocolate advent calendar – one for each boy (I have two). But I have been thinking about making one of those great advent calendars I keep seeing popping up everywhere. Wanted to say I love your blog and check it almost everyday.

Kyla in KY

Such a cute project. My mother in law has a lollipop advent calendar and my son is the only grandchild who lives close enough to enjoy the lollipops so we go over everyday to eat candy. Would you be willing to sell the PDF file. I would love to be able to purchase it. It’s a great gift.

We dont do anything to special but we do like to listen to christmas music and go look at all the christmas lights. . . . Btw is this cute little planner going to be available for the monthly subscription thing for demo kits?

Since my kids are teenagers now, we don’t do any certain type of countdown to Christmas like we used to do with our advent calendar. I now just begin decorating for the holidays the day after Thanksgiving. I light holiday smelling candles in the evenings and start listening to holiday music. I have already started my shopping so I will wrap presents in the evenings so I am ready for the special day. I also make my holiday cards and start to send them out around December 1st. This year, I will be doing some baking early and freeze each item into small batches so I can take out a small batch of each assortment to bring a cookie platter to family’s houses that we visit during the holiday. I am even considering making my own candy this year. I just love crafting and making things for the holidays. To me, that makes everything much more special!

I love the planner. When my children were young we had a chalkboard with Santa and the days leading up to Christmas. Each day they would take turns marking off the calendar. We of course had the advent calendar with the either chocolate or little gifts those varied from year to year. Now I have the grandchildren to love and spoil. Have a great Holiday season.

When my children were still home we celebrated it w/ a little tree that sit on a box w drawers. In each of the 35 drawers was a little ornament to put on the tree. Since this was mine when I was a child I guess it could be classified as an antique now
Now I just buy or make the advent calendar for my grandchildren.
You have such great ideas. Thanks for sharing!

We have three different advent calendars, and each of the kids take turns changing the numbers on each one. I get to take my turn each evening. We have a book that has a hymn, a scripture and a story that we sing and read each night of December. It really helps us keep the true meaning of Christmas in our home!

during the weekends we bake, hang decorations, shop, wrap, sing songs…etc due to the weekdays being so busy with school and work. So, the weekends are totally family/holiday time.

I have children so we don’t wait until December to do a countdown – we are already counting down! For December, however, we have an advent calendar and inside each is directions for a scavenger hunt just for a wee item.

I love your blog and am inspired by your ideas. Can’t wait to check in every day and get to work!

Wow…this is awesome and I just ordered a whole lot of the DVD tins. We have always had an advent calendar while my children were growing up with a special treat each day of December. Now, I have passed that tradition on to my granddaughters.

I don’t have any sort of countdown, there are certain parties and events that happen every year that kind of keep me on track. I have not figured out how to be organized, I would love to be. I am in awe of the way you are able to put together and organize these things.

Dana

We have a little wooden Christmas tree that we hang a new ornament on each day. My daughter just can’t wait to pick out which ornament will be hung that day. I love seeing her get so excited about the little stuff.

I totally love the planner idea. My daughter and I love to do the count down. We have a new little project for each day. It started out the 12 days of Christmas, but sometimes becomes the 15 days or 21 days, depending on what we come up with. Since I am a newer demonstrator, I think it may be the 30 days of Christmas Thanks for all of your creative ideas and welcome to your sister!!!

We have a large felt Christmas tree with pockets at the bottom that hold small felt ornaments to hang on the tree each day of December. I made this tree some 30 years ago for our children. Even though they no longer live at home, when they stop by, they always look at the tree and check the pockets like they did so many years ago.

We don’t do anything special for a countdown but my husband already has the Christmas lights up and running and it’s only Nov 20!!! He is just way to excited this year!! I love the planner. How do you come up with all these GREAT ideas!! I need to eat what you eat!!

This year I made a countdown calendar with Creative Memories products. I know….shame on me for not using SU! but it was such a cute idea that my consultant shared I just had to do it.

we call it moms 25 crafts till christmas, Everyday my 3 boys and i spend about 1 hour dong holiday crafts anything from cards for troops to shopping for a toy to put in the local toy drive.

We don’t do anything specific to “count down” to Christmas (especially since my daughter is almost 20). But I do decorate for Christmas right after Thanksgiving. I refuse to do it before that, even if our ground is covered with snow.

I love this project, and I have to tell you that ALL of your projects inspire me. Thank you so much for sharing!

I make a homeade Advent Calendar. Behind each door is an activity or special treat for the kids like their choice of supper. On the 24th, it is watch a movie. We have tortiere on Christmas Eve and watch ‘The Polar Express’.

wow. glad to have you back. I love to see all your posts and tutorials. Thanks for sharing this opportunity with us to win some great tutorials.

My kids cut out strips of red and green paper and create a chain. There is one link for each day remaining until Christmas. We remove one link each day we move closer to Christmas.

We don’t do anything in particular to ‘count down’. Our kids’ level of excitement is usually a pretty good indicator of how close it is to the big day

Love your project!!

We count down to my nephew AND cousin’s birthdays!!! They both were born on Christmas day… so we just count down to that great day

embarassingly, we do the commercial advent calendars you buy in the store. this planner is amazing!

When our kids lived at home (they are now all married) we would read a different Christmas book every night starting the day after Thanksgiving. It was really a fun thing!

Yes…on November 30th, we(my daughters and I) bake cookies. Every other year one child gets to pick the cookie cutter. We make 25 cookies. Wrap them in cellophane and hang them on our mantle. Day one comes-after dinner we take the cookie and each member of our family (4 plus the dog) get a bite of it.
It is so funny…seeing us all sit on the floor in a circle, passing this cookie around. Once each person gets their piece we eat it!
That is our countdown tradition.

Hi Andrea,
What a great way to kick of the holiday season! It’s nice to see you inspired again what with all the chaos you’ve been coping with! This is my first year making an advent calendar for my two daughters, and I’m going to put in little Purdy’s Snowmen for them to open each day, I think they will be delighted, and I look forward to doing this every year from now on!

We do a family newsletter that circulates each day from Dec 1st on and goes down the list from family to family to add their current family events, then at the end we all get a copy to keep everyone that we don’t see often up to date.

Seasons Greetings,
We have many Christmas traditions in our family. We celebrate the count down to the special day with planned events – such as a the Nutcracker Ballet – One new event we are planning this year is to attend the Bethlehem Walk where a local town transforms part of their town into Bethlehem – with live animals, market places and all the works! ( I am really excited to take my children to this even though they are 16, 20 and 21) We try to do a good deed for someone each day in December too. On the evening of December 5th we celebrate the Feast of St. Nicholas (google for details) One of the traditions we have always done is on Christmas eve we go to Church and then make a Birthday cake or Pie for Jesus – After all its a birth we are celebrating!~ Before anyone can open anything on Christmas morning we pray and then sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.

We start off the countdown to Christmas on December 1st by decorating our home; trees, lights, decorations everywhere, Christmas carols, etc. We have done the advent calendar in the past, but this year we are doing something a little different. We are going to learn how others celebrate Christmas; what their traditions are, things they eat (which we will eat too). It will be a fun experience and a great way to teach our kids about the world.

Great holiday project!

When my kids were little I started buying them the chocolate advent calendars – with a choclate every day, counting down to Christmas. Now that they’re older, they don’t always eat the chocolate every day because they’re so busy – but they do get around to it. One year I almost didn’t buy them and I got grief over it!!!!- so the tradition carries on!!!

We would normally do an advent calendar if I remember to get it out of storage in time!

My daughter creates a simple paper chain at the beginning of Dec and thus begins our countdown. Simple but fun.
Carla D.

I am of Italian origin so I bake plates and plates of Italian cookies that the recipes have been handed down in my family for generations. I’m the last girl however so the tradition will probably die with me!!

We don’t do for 24 days but we do a 12 days of Christmas. We go for 12 days and leave something sweet or something fun at someone door step for 11 nights. We try to leave it without them catching us. Along with the sweet treat we leave a piece of the navitity and then on the last night we reveal ourselves and give the last 3 piece of the set to them and sing carol. It has taught my kids it is just as important to give than to recieve.

We don’t do anything really exciting to count down the days other than have our regular calendar at kids level on the fridge so they can see what the plans are. It seems like there is a special event every day…whether it is a dinner with a relative, or making christmas cookies on the weekend or cutting down our tree etc. Lots of work to be done in very little time Like others, I think I may have to make an advent calendar or christmas countdown calendar pretty soon…there are just so many cute samples out there – it’s hard to choose just one!

Our girls are now 3.5 & 1.5 so we’ll be doing an Advent Calendar card that Grandma sent from England. And we’ll start creating new traditions this year since Elizabeth is old enough.

Since we always go to visit my daughter for Christmas (They have to work and it is a 9 hr drive), I generally just decorate my fireplace. I put up a garland and hang pictures of me, my husband, my daughter, my son in law and my grandbaby girl. I love your project and hope to win.
Thanks for sharing.
Sharon C.

What a great project. You are amazing.
We have a calendar that is from Christmas Around the World, that I bought the year I got married. That was 21 years ago. Everday day it gives a suggestion on how to make that day more special. The kids love it and look forward to flipping it each morning.
Thanks for all you do.
Denise

I do the 12 days of Christmas for my kids with little gifts each day, and we read two different books–the Christmas story and the Christmas Carol which is divided into 25 little books so you get part of the story each day.

yes. I teach first grade and we do a bell with the saying about from December 1st till Christmas. My kidders take one link off each day. It gets us all excited. I have second and third students from the same families and they can’t wait to make their own bell. Of course I now use SU cardstock.

dixie

No I haven’t made cookies for years now. The children are grown and have families of their own. Pecan Nut Cups are our favorite, but since we don’t need the calories they are only made for very special occasions.

I also want to thank you for sharing your creativity. I’m always amazed at what can be done.

I love advent calendars and each year I create a new one. Although my all time favorite is the one from Starbucks with little drawers filled with chocolate!

I feel lucky!

I used to bake all the time when our youngest was at home. Now, with the economy the way it is, I plan on cookies, candy, and fudge as gifts. I’ll probably make about 6 different varieties of cookies, 2 or 3 different candies, and 4 or 5 varieties of fudge. I haven’t pulled out my cookbooks yet but snickerdoodles will be one of the cookies.

How do I handle Holiday gift giving? I try to MAKE every single thing I give, but sometimes I start in Aug or Sept picking up little things I know people could use or like. As for extended family, it’s usually a card, a handmade book, or a basket of baked goodies or fruits, or even something a-typical of the Southwest (dried chili peppers and seasonings). We don’t give individual presents to those outside the immediate family.

We have an advent calendar with pockets and a little mouse that moves from pocket to pocket every day. We still use it even though our sons are in their late 20′s.

You have a wonderful blog and I love to visit to see your great ideas. Thanks for sharing.

we do an advent activity. We have the advent candles and light them each night of advent and do a Bible lesson centered around the significance of the colors of advent and the meaning. Then each child gets to open a very small gift, just trinkets really, such as an ornament, nativity piece, chapstick, ect. The kids look forward to it and its fun selecting little things for them.

We always do the chocolate advent calendar. And some years we have added in an extra special advent calendar made for that year. When the whole family was here we also had a family advent wreath celebration each week . this year we are only 2 and very busy – so i plan to take a few hrs from my busy schedule and count down with a new project each day inspired by the blogs I read.

Great Idea!!

We give gifts to every member of the family. We all (15 of us) spend the entire day together at my parents’ home on Christmas day. We have a wonderful meal together and open presents! My dad reads the Christmas story to all of us before we open the gifts.

We usually skip all the dainties to prevent nibbling and have more munchie kind of food. We only make one desert and it is an apple,pear,cranberry crumble that is so yummy. We also have a surf and turf night on Boxing Day- take a break from the turkey!

We have two traditional favorites (one from my side and one from my husband’s side). My mother started this over 50 yrs ago..green bean casserole (not the one with cream of mushroom soup!) This is made with several quarts of green beans (home canned is best) and chopped onions and chopped raw bacon. This is added to large pan with beans and enought water to come to just the top of the beans. Bring to boil and simmer for 4-6 hrs. (they will not be mushy but keep their form) Then I drain all the liquid (except for a small amount into separate pan for later use. Put pan back onto simmer heat and add 1-2lb. box of velveeta that has been cubed. Put cover on and melt. Once melted pour into casserole dish and set overnight and heat at 350 degrees about 1 hr. before you eat. Yummy!

The other favorite is spaghetti and cheese made with colby and longhorn colby cheeses (also a quarter of butter and milk) Gosh I am hungry…

Andrea, love your Holdiday Blitz!

I wrap 24 of my children’s holiday books and each day they open one and we read it. On the last night they open “twas the night before Christmas” It is a tradition they love so much that this year I am giving the same thing to my nephews so they can start the tradition too.

WhenI was little my Grandma and I made a macaroni tree! We took a cardboard cone and covered it in different pasta and then spray painted it gold. It will always be my favorite tree as it holds so many childhood memories.

No, we don’t do anything special to countdown.

We don’t have a special countdown that we do year after year although I’ve seen so much inspiration to start this tradition this year. Your planner is absolutely fantastic!!!!

How can you reach out and touch someone?? Make a “soldier” shoebox to send to the troops overseas, or make one for a child. Most churches are sponsoring the Angeltrees and shoeboxes for children, plus the soldier ones. It’s really fun shopping for little kids!!

The grandkids do an advent calendar and keep us up to date on how many days are left. We watch all the cartoon movies (Santa Claus is Coming to Town, etc.) and “Jack Frost”. Make cookies and chex mix. Guess some of that is not really a “count down”, but more like traditional. Hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season.