We’re doing the usual Advent Activity Calendar, and I haven’t said too much about it because a) I’ve listed all possible activities before here, and not too much is new, and b) we are barely managing to keep the thing going, especially on weekdays.

Lately we have been hanging around the school yard to play after school, so we don’t get home until much later than usual. Then there’s snacking, and homework (soooo muuuuuch hoooomework, Grade 5 is killing us), and piano practice, and by then we’re lucky if we have 15 minutes or so do the advent activity before I have to start making dinner, so whoever has Scouts/Guides/Brownies can get there on time.

The Little Miss has been pretty faithful about doing her thing but the older two have kind of a take-it-or-leave-it attitude, especially on the days when they have an activity on or a lot of homework, and that is okay with me. I think I will still do it in the years to come, but I will be looking for very small/short things to do on the weekdays in particular – things like “here kid, have a cookie” or “here kid, watch this Christmas special.”

For this year, though, here’s what we’ve done so far:
1 – Donate a toy at Toy Mountain (moved to WalMart locations this year – we used to do this at Bayshore so we could see Santa too. Now I’m not sure when we will do the Santa thing…if at all. SNIFF.)
2 – Make cards for your grandparents (a task not welcomed by anyone this year – dropping it next year, sorry Ba and Nanny! Maybe we will just SHOP for cards instead.)
3 – Hide and Seek with Santa and Rudolph, where I hide two stuffies around the house and the kids have to find them – still surprisingly popular.
4 – Read Christmas books with Mommy – semi popular – the girls liked it, while the Captain read selections from our massive Christmas picture book collection on his own.
5 – Make chocolate dipped marshmallows – the girls and I made them. Everyone ate them happily!
6 – Fill the Bus – The kids help me shop for food at the Superstore, then we drop it at the bus – I like this event because it’s more concrete to them than just donating money via the computer.

Still to come:
7 – Go to a 67s game (with FameThrowa and Mr. Chatty, who make every event a special event!)
8 – Build a train track around the tree
9 – Ice cream sundae night
10 – make peppermint bark
11 – pin the nose on the snowman for a prize (everyone is getting a new book)
12 – Family Games Night
13 – Alight at Night (or, this year we are thinking of just going downtown to see the Lights Across Canada, which actually we have never done before)
14 – skiing at Mount Packenham
15 – Teddy Bear Picnic (basically: eat dinner on the floor with stuffies around – super popular with the girls)
16 – Jammies Dance Party
17 – Make paper snowflakes (making a return after spectacular fails in the past – fingers crossed it works this time!)
18 – Wrap a present for your brother or sister
19 – go for a drive to see Christmas lights
20 – Family swim
21 – Movie Matinee – Annie or Night at the Museum or Penguins of Madagascar
22 – Watch A Christmas Story (and possibly make a gingerbread house, if I can find the energy for it)
23 – Museum of Nature
24 – Fancy dress up dinner (they count on this one every year – Gal Smiley even bought a new vest this year in anticipation!)
25 – Tell us your favourite thing about Christmas!

Next year: more napping, I think. The kids would love that, wouldn’t they?