VDV Four Advent Day 1 - Decorate the Tree

I have been so excited for the Christmas season to begin. I loved how last year we started some family traditions that I hope to uphold over the coming years of my rugrats' childhoods. I'm not going to lie, last year after our Advent activity Calendar went off with such a hit, I already had a rough plan for Advent 2013. Since September, I started tweaking the schedule (and really paying attention to what my work schedule was so the activities were doable during my shift work hours). By the end of November, I had Ziploc bags labelled and ready for the days they were needed. I really didn't want my work schedule to prevent this from happening, so I was insanely organized to the point where once Bug grabbed the bag for the day, I just had to go grab the corresponding Ziploc bag that had most of the materials already set aside. 

This year, I remade our advent Calendar as the one last year was a bit too small for 2 kids. I used a long piece of scrap wood I had lying around the garage (honestly, I have no idea where this came from...haha), and painted it white. Then I speckle painted it with brown before I added the nails that hold the mini bags. Above each of the nails, I painted the numbers 1 through 25 (I included 25 because it's always fun to have an extra bag of candy canes). The bags I made out of decorative burlap that I found at Michaels. I make many trips to Michaels when I have a craft in mind, because I'm sometimes a bit too frugal and refuse to pay full price for items that are $7 or more...haha. I bought both of the patterned rolls of burlap with the coupons (saving money is a definite plus to being organized). Our new advent calendar fits perfectly on our mantle!

Onto our first advent activity. The first one will always be decorating the tree. The perfectionist in me did quite well this year, as I barely told my husband where to put the ornaments. Haha...I drive him crazy when we decorate the tree, but I reigned it in this year. I mean, I can easily just re-organize the ornaments on the sly when he isn't looking...oh dear...ha! We wear Santa hats during all of our advent activities, so we dusted them off from last year and started putting them to good use! Aren't we cute?!

If you noticed in the first picture, Bug is putting a sticker on a calendar. He loves stickers, so last year I made him a laminated Christmas countdown sticker chart and in each advent bag, he gets a sticker to place. This is a perfect added activity to help build some strong fine motor skills. The burlap bags also contain a mini candy cane for Bug and Bear, and the little Christmas note to tell us what our activity will be for the day.

And of course, the beginning of December marks the return of our Elf on the Shelf, Francis. I think I have more fun with him than I should probably admit...but I love when one of the first thing Bug asks in the morning is "where is Francis?". 

Oh, how I love the holidays!