Countdown to Christmas: Days 16-25

This week's focus is on the Nativity and the main characters in the story of Christ's birth. I found a great document with little summaries of each character that we use as a jumping off point, and I spent the last few naptimes creating a paper Nativity scene (similar to one that I found online that I can't find again to link back to!) that I'm going to frame when it's all put together. I LOVE how it turned out!

Day 16: Building our Nativity: Mary is visited by the Angel
The angel Gabriel visited Mary to tell her that she would be the mommy to Jesus, the Son of God. Mary loved God very much and was the perfect person to be Jesus' mommy.

Day 17: Take the boys shopping to pick out Christmas presents for each other and wrap them.

Day 18: Make Christmas cookies!

Day 19: Mary, Joseph and the Donkey are on their way to Bethlehem

The donkey carries Mary the long distance to Bethlehem where Jesus will be born.

Day 20: The Star, the Wise Men and the Camel
The star leads the way to the birth site of Jesus. The wise men knew that the star meant that someone very important was born, so they followed it to Jesus to bring him gifts and to meet the Son of God.

Day 21: The Angel, the Shepherds and the Sheep
The angel visits the shepherds to tell them where they could find Jesus, the Son of God, now that he was born. He was born in a stable and slept in a manger because there were so many people in the city of Bethlehem and there was no room at the inn. 

Day 22: Baby Jesus is born!! Jesus, the Stable and Manger, and all characters
Sing Silent Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem and O Come O Come Emmanuel and talk about why it's so exciting that Jesus came to Earth as a little baby.

Day 23: Make chocolate covered pretzels

Day 24: Pick up our family from the airport!! 
Play with cousins, show them our tree and go to Christmas Eve service

Day 25: CHRISTMAS DAY!
Sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and have a scavenger hunt to find the baby Jesus' from our Nativity sets. Have a special Christmas breakfast and open Christmas presents.

I love this Christmas countdown! It is so much fun teaching the boys more about Jesus and incorporating Him into our daily conversations. I saw Owen today, holding an angel, and saying "Mary, you are going to have a baby on Christmas. And Baby Jesus is God's only Son." Precious!

Countdown to Christmas: Days 8-15

Our first week of activities was great! It really added to the structure of the day and the boys were so excited to find the hidden Christmas books and tear off the next link on the paper chain.

I found a printable countdown Christmas tree that we've been adding an ornament to every day to mark the days too. It's really cute - and free!

Here's what's up this week:

Day 8: Paper Plate Snowman

Craft: I added silver glitter to white paint and the boys painted a paper plate. As it was drying, they sprinkled more silver glitter to contact paper and I cut out the inner circle of the plate, which became the snowman's head. We used buttons for the eyes and foam paper for the nose, mouth, top hat and scarf. After assembling, we used glitter glue on the paper for the snow. So cute!

Day 9: Drive around the neighborhood and look at Christmas lights

Field trip as a family

Day 10: Attend the Live Nativity Hayride in Flower Mound

Field trip as a family

Day 11: Make footprint gifts to mail to the Grandparents

Craft: Christmas trees and snowmen and potential ideas for this project

Day 12: Nativity Pre-K Pack and Nativity Tot Pack

Preschool learning

Day 13: Make homemade Christmas ornaments

Craft: Salt dough ornaments with the boys' handprints or footprints

Day 14: Have a Nativity Lunch!

Edible craft using baby hot dogs and crescent rolls, cheese, animal crackers, pretzel rods and a few other goodies

Day 15: Building our Nativity: Mary, the Angel and Joseph

Craft: While explaining each of the characters of the Nativity story, we will add the people to a Bethlehem/manger scene leading up to the birth of Jesus

I might add a few other crafts or recipes if we're having a down day - Pinterest is so full of great ideas that I can't really choose!

Hope your Christmas preparations are going great and keeping you focused on the true meaning of Christmas!

Countdown to Christmas: Days 1-7

Let the Countdown to Christmas begin!

Our paper chain is complete and ready to be torn. I tried to vary the days with crafts, foods to make, movies to watch, fieldtrips and Nativity-related items. Here's the lineup for Week 1 (pictures will be added as applicable):

Day 1: Make a Paint and Glue Christmas tree

Craft: I drew a Christmas tree with a sharpie on white paper and gave the boys green paint. Then they each chose several pieces of scrapbook paper that they liked and I cut out circles for the ornaments. The stars are made from foam paper and they decorated them with glitter glue.

Day 2: Peppermint Twist Preschool Time at our library

Daytime Field trip

Day 3: Christmas at Nash Farms in Grapevine (morning) and A Charlie Brown Christmas movie and Christmas cookie party at our church (afternoon)

Field trip as a family

Day 4: Road to Bethlehem in Grapevine

Field trip as a family

Day 5: Winter Wonderland Tot Pack and Pooh's Jingle Bells

Preschool learning

Book craft: Reading Pooh's Jingle Bells and making jingle bell bracelets with pipe cleaners and bells. We watched Winnie the Pooh and Christmas too afterwards!

Day 6: Make a paper plate wreath

Craft: Cut out the inside of a white paper plate. Give kids green paper to tear into small pieces and glue to the circle outline. Decorate with red pompoms (for holly) and a red ribbon. Attach a string to the back so it can be hung.

Day 7: Watch Small One as a family and Gingerbread Play-doh

Movie Night

Craft: The gingerbread play-doh was a great texture and really easy to roll out and use with cookie cutters. We pretended to make Christmas cookies and then did some of the activities from the Gingerbread Baby Tot Pack and read the Gingerbread Boy book.

I have a few back-ups in case something falls through, but I'm really excited about our daily activities! The boys found their first hidden Christmas book this morning and were so excited to tear it open and read it.

Are you doing anything fun to countdown to Christmas this year?

On Our Shelf: Christmas

I saw this really cute idea that I think is going to become a tradition for years to come! I went to the library and took out an entire bag of Christmas books (free!) and I'm going to wrap them all and hide one per day for the boys to find for us to read together. It's kind of like Elf on a Shelf in that they'll have to search for it, but the entertainment can last all day instead of just for the minutes it takes to find. Did I mention it's free?! Genius!

Our Christmas Book List this year:

An Angel Came to Nazareth by Anthony Knott

Shall I Knit you a Hat? by Kate Klise

I Spy Christmas

B is for Bethlehem by Isabel Wilner

A Pirate's Night Before Christmas by Philip Yates

Crispin the Pig Who Had it All by Ted Dewan

Christmas Soup by Alice Faye Duncan

A Merry Little Christmas by Mary Engelbreit

Auntie Claus by Elise Primavera

Reindeer Christmas by Mark Kimball Moulton

Timothy and the Christmas Gift by Jeffrey Dinardo

A Song in Bethlehem by Marni McGee

Can't Wait Till Christmas by Mike Huckabee

The Twelve Bots of Christmas by Nathan Hale

Pooh's Jingle Bells by Kathleen Zoehfeld

Ten Little Christmas Presents by Jean Marzollo

The Donkey's Dream by Barbara Helen Berger

How Santa Got His Job by Stephen Krensky

The Gingerbread Boy by Richard Egielski

Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright

Snow Family by Daniel Kirk

Drummer Boy by Loren Long

Our Christmas Movies this year:

Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas

Bear Snores On

Small One

Mickey's Christmas Carol

Muppet Christmas Carol

Before and After!

I have a whole countdown calendar planned that I can't wait to share with y'all! 25 Days of fun family crafts, activities, recipes and outings... and it all starts tomorrow!

A Freebie Pinterest Project

I really like subway art, but I was never quite sure how to incorporate it in my decor. Then I found this one on Pinterest and fell in love. I used an old frame and happened to have a mat from a different frame that I wasn't using too. I covered the frame in Christmas scrapbook paper, printed the subway art and voila! I might change out the paper and subway art for other seasons too if I can find another one I love as much as this. What do you think!?

Jolly Elves

What you'll need:
One whole chenille stem and a half stem (also known as pipecleaners), small and large beads, wooded face bead, small jingle bell, felt, hot glue gun, scissors, ribbon

How to make it:
HAT Cut a 1.5" diameter semicircle from felt. Wrap the semicircle around from point to point to form a cone, leaving a small opening at the tip; hot glue to secure.

SCARF Cut a 1/2"x4" piece of felt; fringe ends with scissors. Cut a small lengthwise slit about 1 3/4" from end for opposite end of scarf to pass through.

BODY Bend one pipecleaner stem in half and, in the following order, thread materials over the bent point to about halfway down the stem: large bead for body, face bead, felt hat, small jingle bell. Leave about 3/4" above the jingle bell and shape the stem into a loop. Then, starting on opposite ends: Thread 4 small beads onto each leg and bend the ends to form feet. Use the half pipecleaner to make arms by centering and twisting around the elf's nexk area. Thread 4 small beads onto each arm and bend the ends to form hands. Wrap the scarf around the elf's neck, then thread ribbon through the top loop and hang.

Idea orginally from December 2008 edition of Parents magazine