the advent calendar
(please excuse the unpainted patch on my wall...which may just be permanent)
I grew up with this calendar (and actually the one I am using my Mom made). I LOVED it. My Mom always said she hated it. Which I never understood. Until this year. I nearly went and bought a chocolate calendar. Do you know how hard it is to come up with 48 presents that have to be small enough to fit on the calendar and cost under $1 each. Let's just say it was not a fun evening on November 30th as I browsed the 99 cent store and dollar spot at Target. BUT, it has been well worth the effort. And as much as I said I would not do it again next year, I know that I will. The Kids love it so much. It is like Christmas morning every morning at our house. Even Mia gets excited to open up her present. Today Chase was looking at the calendar and we had this conversation:
L: "You are welcome:
C: "But how did you have so much money to buy so many presents"
L: "We are very lucky, I did have the money"
C: "But it is so many presents, it must have cost thousands of millions of dollars"
L: "Not quite"
The Elf
So we got the Elf on the Shelf last year. The Elf appears at our house on December 1st and watches over the kids to see if they are being good. At the end of the day he flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa and flies back in the morning to a new spot. So, each morning the kids have to find where the Elf's new spot. Last year Chase named our Elf Ruby. A couple of days into December Chase asked "Mom, is our elf a boy?" I responded "I don't know." Chase: "Well he looks like a boy, and Ruby is a girl's name. We need to give him a new name." So we now call him "Max Ruby", or sometimes "Ruby Max" (Which I am not sure how that is more manly). The first thing Chase says every morning is "Mom, we need to go downstairs and find the Elf" To avoid rushing down too early, I have told Chase he does not fly in from the North Pole until 7AM. And Mia loves finding the elf too. It is so cute how excited she gets when Chase finds him. Despite the downside of the earlier wake up call, let me tell you, I love having that elf around. I am considering having Max Ruby stay year round. Whenever Chase starts to act up I whisper "Chase, Max Ruby is watching you" and he quickly changes his behavior.
9 comments:
Awesome. I am going to have to use the Elf tactic starting next year--great idea!
I love Max Ruby. That is the cutest idea ever. I may just have to steal that one.
i dont like calling the elf Max Ruby, its Ruby Max. duh. and i think you should have him up year round. you better keep up the advent around till chase is in college. actually its kinda sad that i still got excited about getting a dollar in the morning when i was a freshman in college. ha.
You have Max ruby and we have fintree. One day we will think those names are super cute! I love how concerned Chase is about how much the presents cost.
I love traditions too! Traditions are what makes holidays so much fun! I remember how your mom always had the advent calendar in the hallway upstairs.
as always, I am laughing so hard right now.
oh and we had 4 kids and we got a present every 4 days on the calendar. It made it easier for my mom and to fit them on the calendar. Just an idea. Maybe next year Chase can have a day and then Mia.
for those interested in the elf, it is awesome and comes with a cute book. someone gave it to us, so not sure where you buy it, but I am sure you could google "Elf on the Shelf" and find it.
It's too bad that my kids are too old for this, or at least to start it. I love that his/her name is Max Ruby or maybe Ruby and her little brother Max. I like the idea of a present every 4 days. I may have to do that next year when I rescue my advent calendar from storage.
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