Countdown To Christmas

Last year, I remembered Esperanza had no way to grasp how far away it would be before Christmas Day arrived. This year, I decided, I had to come up with some sort of an advent calendar that would cost me little to no money. After gathering ideas via Facebook friends and crafty internet websites, I quickly settled on an easy do-it-yourself craft making a sock advent calendar. I gathered 25 little baby/toddler size socks of various solid colors. I cut a long piece of string which I hung on the wall in our kitchen. I used miniature colorful clothes pins and hung each sock with a number tag to the string. I did this all on the the evening of the last day of November after the kids went to bed - just in time to open the first one on the morning of December 1st!

Every morning, from December 1st to December 25th, the kids found a little surprise of some sort in each sock. They had to eat and finish breakfast first. I can't tell you how wonderful this made our morning during the month of December. Truly amazing!

I struggled with what to put into each sock. I didn't want candy or cheap toys. I had to get creative and put 2 of the same thing in each sock - 1 for each kid - for 25 day! There were 2 times we had Esperanza's cousin over to stay the night so I had to come up with 3 of the same thing to put in the sock for those mornings. Some days, it was just a little coin. Somehow, even a shiny quarter put the biggest grin on the kids' faces! Every day I came up with new ideas: mini buubbles that had been hidden away in a craft bin, punching balloons left over from a birthday party and forgotten about, chewable vitamin C's, a note card that said 'We Will Decorate For Christmas Today', another note that said 'Visit Rafa Today', two small Christmas tree ornaments, individual kid size packages of Nori, toothbrushes we got for free from the dentist a few months ago that they had forgotten about, individual packs of kids emergenc, cool craft buttons and yes - a couple of times there were little treats of some sort. It was so much fun for all of us and every day they were SO excited to find out what little surprise awaited them.

Doing this again next year for sure, with maybe a few sparkles and twists of some sort!