quick and EASY advent calendar

what's up with the holiday season? are you feeling like there just isn't enough time in the day, week, or month? man oh man, i am. and then to top it off it's the end of the year already. what? well, we are pretty busy over here with my girl being in the nutcracker, so we are just starting to get our decorate on. the tree is up, the stockings are hung and today we added an advent calendar to our decor. i have always loved the idea of having an advent calendar. i dreamed of making this one for this year, but i saw it like at the end of november. of course, i could just buy it (not really, it's sold out), but that's no fun i want to make it. there just wasn't enough time this year, so i just bought the chocolate calendar at trader joe's that we buy every year at Christmas. but, then my clever little friend maria made this and i thought i could so make this today and i did. i know it's not from the beginning of the month, but that's ok. who says you have to start the first day of december? not me. you even have time yourself to make one of these for your home right now. you should. grab some envelopes, stamps, markers, crayons, whatever you have and get to work. it was super easy, take a look...

i stamped each envelope with something Christmas related

and the number of days left until Christmas

then i wrote on index cards one specific thing to do for that day. (see below for ideas)

i took some thick green yarn, pinned it to the wall and

used tiny clothes pins to hang the envelopes

my girl was eager to open her first envelope. it said, "decorate".

we decided that we would put up a pom-pom each day to replace the envelope she opened and make a garland as we go along.

that's it! i didn't have to purchase a thing. i had all this stuff on hand from other projects, passed Christmas', you name it. it was completely free, which is totally my style right now.

hope you all are enjoying the season and getting some craft on as well. merry Christmas!

what i wrote for the inside of the envelopes:

*decorate

*draw a picture of santa

*give someone a hug and wish them a merry Christmas

*spread some Christmas cheer

*help someone in need

*explain why we celebrate Christmas

*put on some Christmas music and dance

*draw a picture of the nativity

*make a yummy treat

*read a Christmas book

*watch your favorite Christmas movie

*bake cookies

*be nice

*sing a Christmas carol

*enjoy hot cocoa by the fire

*bake a birthday cake for Jesus

*get ready to open presents