26 days of family fun ...

I hope you had a chance to look at the Advent Conspiracy video, I linked in my last posting. I love the phrase it gives of giving less presents and more presence this Christmas. So often I think over the past week and I can't find much time when I really gave my girls my undivided presence. That is definitely one of my big goals for this Christmas season.
My friend Katie and her husband Andrew have a great Advent tradition with their two kids. Each day when the kids open their advent calendar door of the day, they don't find candy as most kids do, they find a family activity or adventure. Some of them are simple, some of them are bigger weekend adventures that Katie and Andrew have planned out. I think this is such a great way to make sure you connect with your kids every single day of the Christmas season.
I asked Katie to share some of the surprises her kids will be opening this year.

• making a fire in the fireplace
• Going sledding
• Having hot cocoa after dinner
• Taking a drive to see the neighborhood Christmas lights
• making Christmas cookies together
• watching a family Christmas movie

I loved her suggestions. At first I thought, "how can I come up with 26 things?" But after I heard Katie's ideas, and then looked at our calendar and saw special things we are doing such as going to the Parade of Lights, our church's choir concerts, and friends' Christmas parties, I saw that it would be pretty easy to fill in the rest.

Do you have special things, big and small, that you do with your kids each December? I still need to fill in a few days and would love to hear what your family does this time of year.