{life} christmas countdown 2014

A few days before the end of November I took some time to write our Christmas Countdown activity list. I really enjoy doing this with my kids and although some people may affirm that young kids don't remember, I really think we are creating life lasting memories in our boys. Last week when we were in line to see Santa at Macy's Santaland, G told me: "Mama te acuerdas vinimos aca otra vez?" {Mama remember we came here once?}. While waiting I haven't reminded him or mentioned anything about it. He just saw the train set up when we got to the front, turned around and told me that. I was speechless. Then L asked if we could get a chocolate advent calendar as we did the previous years and if we could do some particular activities, which were his favorites. They remember. 

I tried to focus on activities that we can do all together. Even if it's a short or small activity, I wanted things the four of us could do as a family. This year we're using a little small advent tree I found last season in Target. I wrote all our activities in small pieces of paper and placed them in the corresponding day. G likes to take one paper each day and give it to L so he could read it and find out what we'd be doing that day. I have a few options printed in case we need to change something. With our schedules and the hectic ambiance of the season we never know what could come up so I'm prepared to swap, replace or change any activity if needed.

{When I presented the Advent Tree to the boys  G started taking out all the papers. It took him a little while to understand he has to take out one at a time, each day. But now the gets it.}

Now to be completely honest and keep it real, not all activities go as smooth as I envision them in my head. We have a toddler and a tween and trying to keep them both happy and cooperative can be challenging sometimes. We take those not-so-beautiful-moments as opportunities to learn to be patient and tolerant with each other. It may not be perfect but we enjoy our Christmas countdown moments together either way. And it definitely makes the month of December more exciting. So far we are on target with our list and we're looking forward to it every day.