25 Days of Christmas

 

Well it’s that time of year again and the count down is on! The countdown to Christmas has started and so has my families #25daysofchristmas advent calendar that was started by my friend Andrea at A Peek Inside the Fishbowl  

We have had great fun as a family with this version of the 25 days of Christmas and are excited about doing it again this year for the third year in a row.  You can find the activities we did last year over here. 

With a 2.5 year old and an 8 month old here are the activities we will be doing this year….

 

Saturday December 1- Daddy’s Christmas Party

Sunday December 2- swimming at Mommy’s work

Monday December 3-ice cream sundae desserts

Tuesday December 4- write letter to Santa

Wednesday December 5- bake sugar cookies

Thursday December 6- make paper snowman and decorate

Friday December 7- make your own pizza and movie night

Saturday December 8- biodome

Sunday December 9- decorate Christmas tree

Monday December 10- bake gingerbread cookies

Tuesday December 11- make snowflakes

Wednesday December 12- tubes and jujubes

Thursday December 13- Santa craft

Friday December 14- Christmas Movie and picnic dinner

Saturday December 15- Parc Omega

Sunday December 16- Museum of Civilization & Kids Museum

Monday December 17- visit library

Tuesday December 18- make gingerbread house

Wednesday December 19- taffy lane

Thursday December 20- snowy walk

Friday December 21 colour xmas sheets

Saturday December 22- see Santa

Sunday December 23- swimming Gatineau

Monday December 24- open 1 present

Tuesday December 25- Santa comes!! 

 

It is so fun now seeing our son get really excited about different activities and watch his eyes light up.  I can’t wait to see his amazement Christmas morning!!

 

 

Tis the Season!

I waited patiently after Halloween to see when I could start my Christmas decorating without looking too eager and everything looking silly.  Hubby gets a nice little laugh out of my enthusiasm for the holidays now as I really didn’t even think twice about it when we first started to live together. It wasn’t until we had our first child and Christmas became all about him did I start to get excited for the holidays.  We like to do our holidays quiet, at home with the three of us, and visiting our families at different times.

So last weekend while Adam was out for his massage I dug out all 4 of the large rubbermaid bins with the holiday decorations and started our plan of what we would put up first.  We now have wreaths hanging in the windows, yummy cinnamon smelling pinecones in baskets, sugar cookie scented candles burning and I think the lights will go up next!

On my to do list over the next week is getting ready for our 25 days of Christmas that was introduced to us by the wonderful Andrea over at a Peek Inside the Fishbowl.   Last year we enjoyed all of our family related activities.  I am even more excited this year as D is a lot older and really understands what we are doing and why we are doing it.  Let the planning for fun and activities begin!

I have gotten a good start on my Christmas shopping and really hope to have it all finished by December 1st.  I just need to stay on track a few more weeks!

So what are your holiday traditions? Do you leave your shopping to the last minute or are you already finished? I would love to hear what family fun your family partakes in over the holiday season!

5th day of Christmas- Advent Calendar

In my Holiday Tradition post over at PTPA I explained that we were taking part in A Peek Inside the Fishbowl 25 days of Christmas.  I made red envelopes (well I bought them at a Staples) decorated with Christmas stickers and designs (from the Dollarstore!) and used cue cards to write the activity of the day on and place inside.  Black foam numbers were placed on the outside of each envelope.  I made the envelopes with the hope that I will be able to use them in the years to come.  I know as baby boy grows older he will be the one taking out the card to see what our surprise is for the day and am realistic that we will be making new envelopes as excited fingers pull on them 🙂

Here are our family activities for our 25 days of Christmas…..

1. Write a letter to Santa

2. Bake cookies

3. Visit War Museum (hubby has always wanted to go so I decided this would be a great time to include it!)

4. Tubes & Jujubes

5. Christmas decorations up around house

6. Walk around canal

7. Family Christmas movie (okay this one is more for the adults then a 7 month old!)

8. Walk to park

9. Visit  library

10. Go swimming

11. Children’s Museum

12. Make gingerbread house (post to come!)

13. Go for a drive at night to see all the Christmas lights

14. Family pyjama day

15. Get our Christmas Tree

16. Decorate tree

17. Go visit daddy at lunch

18.  Visit Santa at private Christmas party for friends

19.  Cosmic Adventures

20. Go for a drive to enjoy the Christmas lights

21. Visit Santa at the mall

22.  Take family Christmas photos

23. Go for a family snowy walk

24. Family snuggles and reading Christmas stories in bed

25. Enjoy today with family and friends 🙂 Santa came 🙂

Our Family 25 days of Christmas

 

What fun activities will you be doing with your family this holiday season?

On the 3rd day of Christmas- Holiday Traditions

I am super excited for the Holidays this year, much more than in the past. It’s because I am now a mother and am excited to share the Holiday Spirit with my little guy.  I am excited to create family traditions with my husband and child, and future children to come (yes, we are already talking about when #2 will come along!)  I have been planning for months now and here are some traditions we have decided to start…..

25 Days of Christmas– We are generally very health conscious and do not consume a lot of junk food in our house.  My son eats  food that we have prepared ourselves and so do we.  The thought of purchasing chocolate advent calendars that are quickly eaten and not that great quality of chocolate is not very exciting to me.  Let me be clear that we would not give our 6 month old chocolate at this age either!  The Holidays are not about food, yes I know there is generally food in abundance at family gatherings, but I want to create memories. Family memories.  Thanks to Andrea at a Peek Inside the Fishbowl we will be starting a new type of advent calendar. One that will be created around family bonding and creating memories together.  Check out Andrea’s 25 days of Christmas post.  We have some great things planned including visiting museums, parks, swimming, baking and much more!

 

 

 

 

Christmas Decorating– In the past a decorative vase with a few sticks, lights and nice ornaments was my idea of tree decorating. I have also been known to make a few wreaths in the past for Christmas gifts but that’s about the extent of my holiday decorating.  Not this year!  The garland is already put on the banister, the lights are going up next. The outside of the house has the lights ready to go (thanks to my lovely husband!) and we already know that our tree will be decorated blue and silver.  It will be a real tree because as a country girl I love the smell of real trees.  The tree will be minimalist this year and we will continue to add more decorations as the year goes on.  I will also be hitting up the after Christmas sales!

Family Time is a priority this Christmas and I will be making sure to take time out of our busy schedule for my husband and babe to spend time alone throughout the Holidays.  We will be visiting family and have family and friends visiting us for a few weeks.  It’s important that my family gets some down time together, to keep us grounded and connected.  I have already schedule this into my planner and phone and have set reminders. That way I cannot commit to something else in its place.  How do you fit in down time for your family throughout the sometimes chaos of the holidays?

Daddy & Dom

 

I would love to hear some of your family traditions!  What have you done in the past and what are you maybe starting new this year?