Advent Count Down Calendar

I fell in love with this Advent Calendar last year.

Source: mayamade.blogspot.com via Amy on Pinterest

That's right. I waited an entire year so I could make my own!

Maya Made did such a fantastic job and has a fantastic tutorial HERE. I love how organic it looks. And it's so festive without being bright or flashy.

So I finally cranked one out for us! I was able to use materials I had on hand, so it was completely free. Bonus!

Here's mine:

I LOVE IT!

I wrapped an old project poster board we had with beige burlap. Then I pinned on the lace bands. The TP tubes are already an off white color. I painted one white, and there wasn't much of a difference, so I left them au-naturale! I used a paper punch for the snowflakes and I used my Silhouette machine to cut the numbers. Then it was just a matter of putting it all together!

I used staples to close the bottom of each tube, but I didn't like the way they looked, so I covered them with this pretty band of ribbon.

We like the count-down factor of the Advent Calendar, so today we started with #25 and #1 will be for Christmas morning. I've got a Holiday Appropriate activity in each tube to keep us busy and the season full of fun!

Today's activity was "Set out the Nativity". This is a big deal...because I'm sort of a Nativity Buff! We have our family one that goes in the living room. Then each child has their own...they received a couple of years ago from their Great Aunt Mary & Uncle Jim! So everyone gets to display theirs however they want. Donkey in the stable? Sheep outside? Whatever. Mix it up.

Here's Kat reflected in her dresser mirror. Her Nativity is Precious Moments. Note the Lurker Brother in the background! She fell asleep talking to Baby Jesus. SWEET!

A few of our other activities to look forward to:

Watch Christmas Movies

Make Hot Chocolate

Put on our Jammies and drive around looking at Christmas lights

Write our letters to Santa

LOTS of Christmas Crafts

LOTS of cookie baking & sharing

Pop some popcorn

Make bird feeders

Make our own wrapping paper

Camp in the living room by the tree

Make ornaments

Family Game Night

Breakfast for Dinner

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