Advent calendar

Man, I love Christmas. I love the lights. I love the hot chocolate. I love the snow (okay, maybe the Utah snow that actually exists this time of year). I love how the Christmas tree lights up our house at night. I love ornaments and garland and nativities. Mostly, I love how the Christmas spirit lights up faces and hearts. I wanted to make an advent calendar this year that embodies that spirit of Christmas. Tammy, Chuck's oldest sister, emailed the family explaining their idea for a service advent calendar this year. It was perfect! (Thanks, Tam!) So, I made up a list of fun Christmas activities and service opportunities (check this link and this link) for the month of December. I had planned to do this:

Our slightly unconventional advent calendar

I put a scripture in each envelope telling the Christmas story. I wanted to do a "service" each day, but didn't want to confine myself to a certain service opportunity each day. So, next to our advent calendar, I have a jar of our Christmas activities. That way, I can choose which service I want to do each day.

It's been awesome to think about others consciously each day. Plus, I love reading the Christmas story. I'm excited for this new tradition and am anxious for when Jackson can really join in on the fun :)

Our service jar

Some of the "service activities" we came up with

Oh, and it was free :) That's always nice :)