Another {new} Advent Calendar

Soooooooooooooo...I decided to make yet ANOTHER new Advent Calendar this year.

I loved the one I made last year, but I still wanted something a bit different.

While the masses were out elbowing each other down at midnight for Black Friday deals, I was at home in my kitchen assembling what I hoped would be the cutest little Advent Calendar yet.

It all started when I saw this post. Then I saw this one.

Done.

It had me at "envelope." I'm a sucker for cute envelopes, you know.

I recently ordered this kit from Elle's Studio, so I decided to whip up the envelope book in the wee hours of the morning using my newly acquired kit. {Yay for actually using my kit and not hoarding it, like usual.}



I dug around and found a few cute envelopes that I liked and I steamed them open so that I could use them as templates to make new envelopes.

I'm clever like that. {Or high school like that - depending on which way you look at it.}

Anyhoo...here's how it turned out!
































I really like it.

I like that it's all wonky and crazy with it's odd-sized envelopes.

I really, really like the confetti envelope at the back. The inspiration for that one came from Ali, who in turn, got her inspiration from Pinterest - imagine that!

So now all I have to do is add an activity to each "pocket" or envelope and I'm set! I'm all ready for December!

Yay for being ahead of things for once.

Happy Advent-ing!

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December 24

Advent Calendar - Unwrap one gift from under the tree!

Remember This - The kids are WIRED up today. They can't wait to tear into the gifts. They each chose one and opened it. Olivia opened her Christmas outfit for Kit (her American Girl doll). Whit opened another DS game. They were so excited. We spent all day getting ready for Christmas Eve at the Lanford's. This has been my Christmas Eve tradition since I was born. I still love it even though it's changed quite a bit through the years. The people are still the same and it still means a lot to me. Here are a few pictures from the night.








So, that's it! That's as far as our Advent Calendar went. I learned a lot about myself, my kids and my "lofty goals" by doing this project with them. Maybe I'll do a "What I learned" post in the future.

But, for now, I just want to remember that I loved every second I spent with them this season...teaching them crafty tricks, watching their expressions as we turned over each number and something magical would appear, watching them fight and then say sorry afterward, teaching them the true meaning of Christmas and spending time together. I want to remember that forever. And, maybe, just maybe, they'll remember little pieces of that, too.

Merry Christmas, everybody!

December 23

Advent Calendar - MOVIE DAY!! {Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel}

Remember This - The kids have been dying to see the new Chipmunks movie, so I knew I wanted to include it in the Advent Calendar. It turned out perfect because Hon got to go with us! We weren't expecting that since I thought he had to work that night. The kids had a great time. It was fun for our whole family! By this point, I was in a pretty funky mood (more on that later), but the movie cheered me up and I enjoyed it.

We had some trouble taking our picture...I couldn't get everyone in synch to look at the camera at the same time, so the pics turned out pretty bad. Oh well!

December 22

Advent Calendar - Deliver neighbor gifts.

Remember This - We did not get the chance to swap gifts with Brayden and Lexi today. We got busy just hanging out together and running some last minute errands. I didn't even take a picture (I know...I'm shocked). I did snap a few pictures of my favorite ornaments from my grandmother's tree. I've loved the ornaments since I was a tiny little thing and every year I can't wait to see them on her tree. She used to be a crafty thing, my grandma. She made these ornaments from felt. I just really, really love them. It makes me wonder which ornaments Whit and Olivia will remember when they are older? Which ones will be their favorites forever? I can't wait to know!

Here are mine:

December 21

Advent Calendar - Wrap gifts for each other.

Remember This - I knew this was going to be a difficult task because they were going to want to open their gifts after wrapping them for each other. Remember when we shopped for each other's gifts? Yeah...disaster. So, I decided once we wrapped the gifts, I would let them open them right away. It turned out perfectly and everyone was very happy!









We also finally got the chance to visit Hollywild today.



Whit, Olivia and I went with Erin, Baby George and Papa Steve. We had a fantastic time until Baby George decided he was over it and wanted to get the heck out of that creepy place. He cried for the last 15 minutes of the tour and believe me, I was just as ready to get out of there as he was! I'm sorry...that place is just weird. But, the kids loved it. We rode in two cars and before we even got started in the tour I looked ahead and saw this:


HELLO? It was probably 25 degrees outside and FREEZING COLD!! And, she rode through the WHOLE ENTIRE EXHIBIT THAT WAY! Sheesh.

Of course, Whit thought he needed to do the same.


Next year...Roper Mountain Lights.