Advent Stockings

In with new and out with the old. I wanted to try something different this year instead of our usual pull-the-ornament-out-of-the-pocket-and-velcro-it-to-the-felt-tree advent calendar my mom handed down to me. I came across this idea on familyfun.com and decided to try it.

1. I bought 24 different socks, 24 mini clothespins, and some Christmas ribbon.

2. I wanted to hang them in front of the fireplace for aesthetics, but had a difficult time keeping them up because of the weight. Every morning I would find my string of socks dangling. Tyler solved my problem by finding a way to tie the ribbon up.

3. I had to come up with 24 different things for each stocking. I wanted to read a scripture every day, so that was easy. I found a 25 piece Miss Spider puzzle and put a piece of the puzzle in each stocking. And then I just made a list of different activities or things to do each night. I love that Christmas creates that feeling of anticipation and wanted my kids to feel that every day. To have something to look forward to.

At first my kids balked at this idea. Erik even asked me if he could put up the old calendar, but after several days they were heard to say, "Can we do this again next year?!" Waking up to something in their stocking has given them a little bit of Christmas morning every morning and I have loved it.

Ideas I came up with
1. Start the 12 Days of Christmas to a family in our neighborhood

2. Watch Christmas devotional with popcorn

3. Christmas crossword puzzle (placed in the stocking)

4. Gold chocolate coins

5. Write Santa letters

6. Pick out our Christmas tree and visit the zoo for ZooLights

7. Camp out around the Christmas tree

8. Visit Santa

9. Breakfast for dinner with candelight

10. Visit the library and donate box of shoes and coats to charity

11. Ornament for each child to hang on the tree

12. Sudoku puzzle

13. Make snowflakes

14. Christmas music quiz

15. Get out of Sunday dishes (mom and dad will do them)

16. Go to Logan

17. Leary family Christmas party

18. Sing Christmas songs around the piano

19. Decorate gingerbread house

20. Game night

21. Movie night

22. Make cookies

23. Visit Temple Square and see the lights

24. Shop for each other for Christmas Eve present exchange

25. Drive around and look at lights

26. Read Christmas stories

27. Over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house we go