Countdown to Christmas

I remember being in college when I got my first advent calendar, the kind with chocolate for each day. I thought it was the coolest thing ever!!! I mean, who doesn't love an excuse to eat chocolate each day. The funny thing is, I have a vague recollection of putting cotton balls on Santa's beard each day when I was very little but it's kind of a fuzzy memory so I still think of the college memory as my first.

Now...well my countdown really starts in November - the first day of November. That's the day I put my Christmas music on my iPod and start listening just to Christmas music on the drive to and from work and while at work. Then there's the countdown to when the decorating starts. First we have to clean carpets and furniture and deep clean the house. So depending on the anticipated decorating start date, we back up to the weekend before for the cleaning process. Once the decorating is done, well then, I don't really count anything anymore. Well, I should take that back. I count how many pay periods there are left and compare that to the amount of shopping to do - the goal is to have those two match or have more pay periods than shopping items.

This year I bought supplies to make an advent calendar. I found these adorable canvas shapes that I plan to add numbers to and decorate in some fun way. I wonder where I put those?? Maybe they'll be ready for next year.

But I think the most memorable Advent calendar is the one we made for the Wheatley's kids. It was a box that had 25 drawers that were each numbered. We bought itty bitty ornaments and a cute little tree and a few candy treats. We filled each drawer with an ornament and added a candy to a few as well. The kids opened a drawer each day and put the ornament on the tree and when the tree was decorated, it was Christmas. It was so fun to see their excitement when they opened it the first time. And even more fun to see it in their kitchen each year thereafter.

Christmas is definitely worth counting down to and I really need to find those canvas shapes so I can make an advent calendar. Have I mentioned that I love Christmas! Happy counting.