Here we come an'adventing...

70. Make an advent calendar at Christmas. (3/3)

It is finished.

I feel a bit like I cheated this year, but that's all my mother-in-law's fault.  She gave me a beautiful wooden advent calendar last year for Christmas.  Honestly, I couldn't wait to use it.  Besides, my homemade goodies were a labor of love - and more of labor than of love.  After all, I consider myself to be less than craftsy.

So technically Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas.  But, in our house, and for the past three Christmases, we have done the December 1st-25th thing.

The first year I made a paper house with windows and doors cut out from magazines.

The second year I crafted tiny envelopes and hung them from a string.

This year, I used the one that was given to me, but it still involved a little work...

If you didn't read the Mom Things in my last post, you might have missed that Sarah ripped off one of the doorknobs before I even stuffed the activities inside.  It got sucked up into the vacuum so I had to dig through a mess of undesirable, unmentionable things that collectively resembled owl pellets.  Not pretty.  But I found it!  So it was worth it...I guess...

Then came the activity-stuffing.  To name a few:

~Donate a gift from the Samaritan's Purse Christmas catalog  (They chose to provide meals for a week, a blanket, and money towards helping to send a missionary doctor where needed.  It was so awesome - especially hearing them wish we could do so much more.)
~Read Luke 2 - The Birth of Jesus
~Buy gifts at the school Holiday Store
~Make cinnamon ornaments

That was today's -

 

It's a somewhat retro craft.  After all, I'm no pinterest guru.  In fact, I don't really even know how to navigate the beast.  But it's basically equal parts cinnamon & applesauce plus a little bit of glue...to help them dry faster.  They smell amazing.

So much so, I guess, that two little girls found them irresistible.  They just had  to taste them.  Check out the perfect bite mark I discovered on this Christmas tree. 

Good thing Elmer's is non-toxic.

Tomorrow's activity promises to help us complete another list item.

But I'll talk about that after it happens.  In the meantime, #70, you have been checked!