It’s November 24, and that means I have fought long enough and hard enough and can finally throw in the towel and embrace all the Christmas. Bring on the Bing Crosby! Change the wreath on the door! Bring out the wrap from the basement!
This is the first year in a long time that I’m not doing my annual Advent Calendar of Activities, started by Andrea all those years ago. It’s been fun, but the kids are older now and although I think they liked it and will miss it, they’re just too busy. School this year runs right up until December 23, and a lot of their weekly activities do too, and trying to squeeze in a daily Christmas event was just too much.
I admit this freely: I purchased my way out of it. Preempted the complaints about tradition by getting them each a store bought Advent Calendar – Lego for the older two, and a Tsum Tsum one for the youngest. They’ve been begging for these for years, but I always considered them too expensive, especially when dumped on top of the expenses of the daily activities. But now, I’m buying my way to freedom! Take my money and my thanks, Lego and Disney!
I think it’ll fly.
Ironically, I made myself a list of a few absolute favourite, must-do activities, just a few simple things that we always do that make it feel festive. I just went and counted and there are 27 things on that list. So…perhaps there will be a bit of an advent thing happening around here after all, but really, I’m going to try to take it easy this season, drink a little too much Bailey’s and eat a few too many cookies and call it a holiday.
It finally snowed here on the weekend, and today is American Thanksgiving which means a lot of Black Friday sales started today in Canada, so it’s time to get festive, get shopping, and get writing those cards.
TurtleHead 
Ah….my way of embracing Xmas is to visit the One of a Kind Christmas show. Do they go to Ottawa? I know there’s a stint in Vancouver, not sure though if it’s a different time of year…such a great way to get into the spirit!
My kids too still want lego advent calendars. Mom asked (she’s the lego gifter) and I said yes, for the younger girl, and then heard very loud complaints for the older boy, so BOTH are still into it. Kinda nice,isn’t it?
Your post reminded me to: 1) make room on the homework table for the lego calendar setup and 2) buy Bailey’s.
🙂
Damn! As soon as I read “LEGO calendar”, I paused and Googled it. Mark would love it… but apparently, it’s sold out on Lego’s website (many “product retired” as well) and it’s $100 or more on Amazon. Oh well, for another year I guess… I’ll get the “boring” Kinder one!
If you’re still interested, they have them at Playvalue – it’s way in the west end of the city but if you don’t want to drive out there, you can just order it from them online and have it shipped. The Star Wars one is $50 and the City one is $40 – these are the standard price they were everywhere. Here’s a link to the Star Wars one: http://www.playvaluetoys.com/products/LEGO-75146.html
Oooh, love festive posts. I have been meaning to talk to you about Costco. I love Costco. I know that was a whole other post but oh well. I find so many great deals at Costco, I find the produce is better and fresher, and I love their Kirkland Signature brand. I do save money shopping there but I have to be very particular and stick to my list.
The reason I’m thinking about this is that I bought Lindt Advent calendars from Costco. I also am doing what I’ve done the past few years, I have a wooden Advent calendar and each day I write a short note to each boy about something nice I noticed about them that day. It’s really a good exercise.
Yay! It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Enjoy!!