{DIY} Advent Calendar

Hi Friends,

Happy Monday! I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving with family and friends. It was pretty low key over here, but we had a great time gathered around the table. Lots to be thankful for this year!

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This weekend we decorated our home for Christmas and it is super cozy. We also did some DIY projects that I am excited to share with you all. I love me some Christmas lights and all things twinkly! We are so excited to celebrate Christmas this year with RJ, as she is starting to understand what Christmas is all about. I am excited to do an Advent calendar with her and read to her lots of Christmas stories.

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I know Christmas can get so overwhelming with shopping, cooking, baking and parties. That’s why we truly try and keep the focus on what the true meaning of Christmas is all about (not to sound corny or anything). It is hard to remember that we are not only loving others and enjoying the spirit of the season, but we are truly celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There are so many different traditions out there for celebrating Advent Season, but this year we made an Advent Calendar that we hope to have for many years to come. In case you are wondering what Advent is, here is a great definition:

Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. The term is a version of the Latin word, meaning “coming”.

It’s preparing for Christ’s coming. Well he is not coming December 25th, because he already come. It’s a time to celebrate the coming of his birth.

The calendar that we have created we put fun activities inside each day and random acts of kindness for RJ and us to do together. I want us to share God’s love with others during this season of Advent. I am sure we will change the things we do inside each day every year and we may even throw in a little treat.  Here is a list of examples that we want to do with her:

  1. Make Christmas Cards to Give to our Neighbors
  2. Do Something Kind for Daddy.
  3. Make an Ornament to give to a friend.
  4. Load up gently used toy’s to donate.
  5. Donate canned goods to the local food bank.
  6. Read the Christmas Story together.
  7. Bake cookies and deliver to fire/police station.
  8. Make a winter treat to feed the birds and squirrels.
  9. Gather all the change in the house, take it to your closest Salvation Army bell ringer.
  10. Set up Nativity Scene
  11. Leave bags of quarters on the washers at laundry mat
  12. Make a Cross ornament to hang in the tree.
  13. Go to Dollar Tree and pass out 10- $1.00 bills to random children (with parents permission first)
  14. Read a book  about Jesus’ Birth
  15. Make breakfast with mom
  16. Choose an angel from the angel tree
  17. Visit a nursing home, pass out carnations and  “Merry Christmas” greetings
  18. Buy someone coffee behind us at the coffee shop.
  19. Hold the door for everyone you see
  20. Visit a living Nativity
  21. Make a list of Jesus’s names
  22. Volunteer somewhere
  23. Rake or shovel a neighbors driveway
  24. Take Daddy’s co-workers baked cookies
  25. Put together cocoa packets to pass out
  26. Attend a Christmas Eve service

This Advent Calendar was super easy to make. I just bought some scrap wood at Home Depot and Hubby cut it to make the tree. I then painted it (well I painted it first before he nailed it together) and then hot glued clothes pins to the wood pieces. I bought the burlap bags at Hobby Lobby in packs of 5 and stenciled red numbers on them with red paint.

I used these measurements from Shanty Chic to cut the wood with:

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It came out beautifully, I just need to add a topper and a stand to the bottom.

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I am personally doing the She Reads Truth study and the Naptime Diaries Journal this Advent season.

Question: Do you have an advent calendar? 

P.S. Tomorrow is the last day to get free shipping when you order from Refresh Attire!