Christmas Book Advent

In 2009 my friend Daisy showed me one of her friends blogs beinglds.  I saw this idea of doing a book/craft advent and really wanted to do it.  I tried to do it that year, but Thomas was still very young and I was not very consistent with it.  Once again last year I thought about it, but we got pretty sick after Thanksgiving and Thomas even ended up in the hospital for a few days.  When I realized that this is really my last year before Thomas starts school full time, I knew I had to follow through this time.  Besides, Thomas is so obsessed with crafts that I knew it would be like Christmas everyday.  With the creation of Pinterest I have found so many different ways to do this.  So I thought since I am doing this I should probably record it so I have proof (since I am not sure if I will do this again - it is kind of crazy).  Almost all of this comes from other blogs.  I am not that creative.  Here are a few of the blogs: oopseydaisy, Little Wonders Day, and of course being lds.  I really love these blogs and am so grateful that they take the time to think of all this stuff and post it!  So here we go!

Day #1 - Elf on the Shelf - Nov. 30

This year my Mom sent us an Elf on the Shelf for an early Christmas present for the kids.  We had fun reading the book and the kids have had a lot of fun finding the elf each morning.  Thomas named our elf Jingle Bell or "Jingle" for short.  The thought of the elf hearing what the kids do and say really worked for Thomas.  I will have to post some pictures of our little elf later.  

Day #2 - Once There Was a Snowman - Dec. 1

Today we read Snowmen at Night, Snowmen at Christmas, and The Snowman.  I just could not pick just one book for Snowman day.

Out of these three books, I think my kids favorite was The Snowman.  There are no words in the book, just lots of great pictures.  It was so fun listening to Thomas tell me the story in his own words.

For our craft today we made cotton ball snowmen.  I cut out a snowman shape out of contact paper and glued the not sticky side down to a piece of blue construction paper.  Then, the kids stuck on the cotton balls and decorated the snowman with ribbons, goggly eyes, and paper.

Thomas' Snowman

Carter's Snowman

That night we watched Frosty the Snowman and ate Peppermint Ice Cream!

Day #3 - Winter Animals - Dec 2

Today we read The Mitten, Snow Music, and Bear Stays Awake for Christmas. The kids really loved all of these books.  All of these stories had something to do with animals and snow and each had such a sweet message.  

I read on a blog about making crystal snowflakes with borax and pipe cleaners.  I thought that it would be a fun little science experiment to do with Thomas.  I could not believe the results!  You can find the instructions here: beinglds.  We also talked about what animals do in the winter and made birdseed cakes to hang in our trees. 

 

For our craft today we painted and glittered wooden snowflakes to hang in our window.  What kids doesn't love glitter?

It was so much fun that we actually had snow on the ground to play in!  We made snow angels, played find the stick (a game Thomas came up with), and tried throwing snowballs (the snow was a little too powdery).