A Book a Day

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We have LOTS of Christmas books, and we keep them in storage all year except for the month of December. That makes them new and exciting for all of us. This year I decided to wrap 24 books in newspaper and write a number on each one. Then O gets to open one each night, and that is so much fun!
I decided to use newspaper primarily because it is easily recyclable, but also because it's free and wrapping the books is fairly easy to do. However, I really don't like wrapping, and I can't stand to touch newspaper :( My original plan was to make a bunch of bags for the books using Christmas fabric that I bought last year (at 75% off), but I never got around to it. Hopefully, I'll get the bags made before next year :)

Painted Glass Ornaments

For our 3rd day of activities, we painted glass ornaments. This idea came from Parenting magazine. Although our ornaments don't look anything like theirs! To make these ornaments, we used empty glass balls and took the tops off. We then squeezed acrylic craft paint into the balls. O chose the colors, and we squeezed the paint into the ball together. I tried to get her to swirl and shake the balls, but she wasn't interested. She was ready to move to the next color! This was a good lesson in being very careful since these ornaments are VERY breakable (I broke a tiny piece of glass off of the top of one of the ornaments when I put the top back on).

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We are very proud of our little works of art!

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The ornaments continued to change as the paint moved through them overnight. I'm looking forward to seeing them when I get home today :)

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Gumdrop Tree

For our 2nd day of advent activities, we made a gumdrop tree. To make this tree, we used a styrofoam tree form, toothpicks, and gumdrops. O had difficulty pushing the toothpicks into the tree, so that was my job :) We really had a good time making this tree while listening to Christmas music :) The whole time we were making the tree, I kept thinking that it would be so much easier if the toothpicks were cut in half. For some reason, I didn't break them, but just kept using the whole toothpicks. We had to stop working to eat supper (and O had lost interest), so we finished it the next morning. I broke the toothpicks in half, and it was 1000 times easier!!! I don't know why I didn't do it earlier. Obviously, my brain was turned off :) We also enjoyed tasting the gumdrops. O tasted a few and said "O not like it. It's ucky!" Then she'd try another one... More than anything she enjoyed feeding me red gumdrops!

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O is VERY proud of our finished gumdrop tree!

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Setting Up Our Nativity

For our 1st advent activity we set up O's nativity scene. She was excited and has enjoyed playing with the set. She insists that one of the shepards is a nurse and that baby Jesus is sick :) We also started painting handmande gifts as part of our 1st day activities. I'll post more about this later.

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O's Advent Calendar

We FINALLY hung the advent calendar last night! We've been doing an activity each day, but I didn't have the ribbon I needed to hang it until yesterday. To make the calendar, I used a book of punch out boxes that we put together a few weeks ago. (I bought it last year after Christmas for 50% off). I was excited that Elliott joined me in building the boxes. It's fun to have him involved in crafting :) I'm not that happy with how the calendar turned out since it looks a little flimsy. It's definitely not one that will last for years and years :)


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O has enjoyed the our activities each day. However, she was surprised to find a piece of paper when she opened the first box. She asked "where's choc-choc (chocolate)? where's toy?" I was quite surprised, and I think she may have gotten a little spoiled with treats while we were in Disneyworld :) I told what the note said and that the activity was her special surprise.

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