Advent Calendar

I mostly worked on this project in October. On December 1st, I applied the title & ribbon & hung our new Advent calendar on the wall. I saw this idea online last year (in various forms) & was really inspired to create one for our family this year. This one is made from a cookie sheet, spray painted & covered in scrap book paper. The countdown is made from scrap book paper-covered match boxes that have magnets glued on the back.
Growing up, I remember each of us three kids getting our own little advent calendar. We'd open the little paper window & get a chocolate each day. I don't think we even made it to Christmas eve before we cheated & ate all the chocolates.
I really wanted to carry on the tradition, but in a different way. With the idea of keeping the true spirit of Christmas constantly in our hearts this season, I found a scripture-based advent calendar online. It comes from the Dec. 2000 Friend magazine. (The Friend is the magazine our church publishes that's geared toward primary aged children) Each night, we've been reading a scripture which talks about a principle that Jesus taught & then discussing ways that we have or can include the principle in our daily life. It's geared toward kids a little older than David, but it gets us talking & reading the scriptures out loud with David.
I'm having a lot of fun with our Advent tradition & hope that it continues to grow & become something special to David as he experiences the Christmas season.

(sorry for fuzzy pictures... they're from my iPhone) I've gotten really lazy & my regular digital camera is rarely at arms reach. I'll work on it, now that I'm realizing that iPhone pics look better on the small screen :)