November 27th - First Day of Advent - Have cranberry-orange pancakes for breakfast, put up the tree (after a trek out to the tree farm!), & light the first Advent candle 💗
November 28th - Make gingerbread and have it for dessert with whipped cream
November 30th - Paint letters for the mantel - we chose to spell out PEACE; plant amaryllis bulbs
December 1st - Let the cookie making begin! Make jam thumbprint cookies
December 2nd - Make eggcup topiaries - a little piece of floral foam in the bottom of an eggcup can hold little holly and pine springs, or any other found greenery
December 3rd - Decorate a tree for the sunporch
December 4th - Have eggnog pancakes for breakfast, and light the second Advent candle
December 5th - Make Christmas jam (I use the linked recipe, but just freeze instead of processing); leave out shoes for surprises tomorrow morning
December 6th - St. Nicholas Day! The kids get a few surprises (this year: a chocolate Santa, chocolate coins, peppermint chapstick, candy canes, and scented bookmarks) tucked into their shoes
December 7th - Make donut ornaments
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| I love how these came out! |
December 8th - Make cherry cookies & go gift shopping for our pets before heading out to see a nearby lights display
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| At our pet store, pets are allowed - of course, now she knows what she's getting! |
December 10th - Make pistachio fudge ~ I didn't photograph this, but it was so good!
December 11th - Light the third advent candle
December 12th - Bake peanut butter Rudolph cookies
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| a bit of a pinterest fail! |
December 13th - It's Grace's 16th birthday!
December 14th - Do the Christmas cards & mail them out
December 15th - Bake fruitcake (I love the fruitcake kit from King Arthur flour)
December 16th - Make pomanders with whole cloves and oranges
December 17th - Construct gingerbread houses
December 18th - Make Christmas-shaped pancakes using cookie cutters; light the fourth Advent candle
December 19th - Leave a gift out for our mail carrier. Christmas homeschool break begins
December 20th - Peppermint Day! We plan to make peppermint cookies, peppermint fudge, homemade marshmallows, and hot chocolate. Then, we'll spend the afternoon watching a Christmas movie
December 21st - Winter solstice - we'll make a treat for our backyard chickens
December 22nd - Bake Mexican wedding cookies & drive around to look at holiday lights
December 23rd - Have gingerbread pancakes for breakfast; try to have all the wrapping done by today!
December 24th - Christmas Eve - prep a nice breakfast for tomorrow, bake & decorate sugar cookies, order Chinese food for dinner
December 25th - Merry Christmas!
December 26th - Boxing Day - We hide a small gift box in the house for each kiddo to find. Inside: a big chocolate marshmallow, a package of special hot chocolate mix, and a small surprise
December 27th-30th - Spend time planning some fun food and activities for New Year's Eve, and generally just try to relax and stay home as much as possible (probably not as much as I'd like!)
December 31st - New Year's Eve ~ we'll do a big appetizer spread and watch a movie or two, decorate "champagne" glasses, make a banner to welcome the new year, and countdown to midnight by popping one balloon each hour
January 1st - Happy New Year! Everyone gets their new calendar today to hang in their bedroom (I like to wrap them up & put them at their place at breakfast) and we always eat red beans and rice, collard greens, and black-eyed peas (all supposed to bring good luck for the new year).
Happy Advent everyone! And as a side-note, I have finally gotten around to adding an instagram button to my sidebar and have set myself of a goal of capturing and posting an Advent moment there more days than not.
I love this post!
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