We've done something similar to this for years, inspired by the book
The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas by Madeleine L'Engle.
Some of the things we've done: Put up the porcelein nativity set, get out special Christmas stuffed animals, go Christmas caroling, make an ornament, go to a special Christmas event at church, etc. I agree with the previous poster who said that you need some days that are VERY simple, like putting out a special decoration.
I just found a version of "24 Days" that DD13 wrote when she was 7. (As I recall, she wrote it little by little as the month went on, and I helped with the typing.) DS15 would have been 9 and DD7 would have been just over a year old. Here it is for your enjoyment:
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There's a book that Mommy reads to us every year at Christmas time. It is called The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas. It is by Madeleine L'Engle. It'sabout two sisters and a brother. They do Advent surprises, which are little surprises they get on the twenty-four days before Christmas. Like one day they put up a nativity set. They got a tree on one day. They made a Christmas mobile one day.
We do the same thing, only we do different things. Sometimes we get little surprises, and sometimes we do activities. Surprises are little toys or decorations. We use the same things every year. Sometimes we get some new things. They go away on New Year's Day so they'll be special again the next year.
On the first day of Advent, our Advent surprise was a new Advent calendar. It's a cloth Advent calendar which has gold buttons. It has little ornaments in pockets with numbers on them from one to twenty-four. Every day you pull out one of the little ornaments and hang it on a gold button. Every day my brother and I take turns. I have even days and he has odd days. Our other Advent cal ends are is mahouts of cardboard with doors. Some have memory verses behind them and some have pictures. Brian opens them on even days and I open them on odd days.
After we did our Advent thing, we did school and then we went to our babysitters. That night we read Christmas stories and sang carols before bed.
On the second day of Advent, Daddy, Mommy and I went to the National Christian Choir Christmas concert. My Grandma is in the choir. Brian and Laura went to my other Grandmother's and watched two videos. Brian did not want to go to the concert, and we could not take Laura because if she cried in the middle of it we would have to go out and we could not hear the pretty music. My favorite song was the African Noel.
After the concert we went out to Pizzaria Uno with my Dad's friends. We picked up Brian and Laura first. Then we went to my Dad's friends' house. At their house, there was a little singing tree. It sang Jingle Bell Rock and Jolly Old Saint Nicholas. Laura danced to it. Everybody was cracking up.
Then we went home. It was almost nine o'clock. We set up the Nativity Set for our Advent surprise. It's porcelein. One year Brian was bouncing a ball near the Nativity Set. It accidentally bounced up, hit Joseph's head off, and the hit the innkeeper which exploded into pieces. We got the innkeeper replaced, and we glued Joseph's head back on. This year, in the box. Joseph's head fell off. Mommy glued it back on again.
On the third day of Advent we went to church. Then Brian and I went to the movie 102 Dalmatians with Grandma. That was our Advent surprise. After that we went to Grandma's house and started to make our gingerbread houses. We started that day because it takes a long time. We took gingerbread and put it together like a house with icing. Then it had to dry. We put candy on the next week to decorate it.
We came home and did the Advent wreath because it was the first Sunday of Advent. We lighted the first candle, which is the Prophecy candle. We talked about Isaiah. Isaiah lived 700 years before Jesus was even born. He wrote things in the Bible about the future, that Jesus was going to be born and that He was going to be Emmanuel. Emmanuel means, "God with us." We sang lots of Christmas songs. Then we said a prayer.
On the fourth day of Advent, we hung up a Santa Claus figure with nine reindeer. It has flashing lights for the reindeers' noses. They're hanging up over the bannister from the ceiling. It kind of looks like they're flying down.
On the fifth of day of Advent we went to Build-a-Bear Workshop, which is in the Mall. You pick a skin of a stuffed animal. Then you take it to a fluff machine. You pump the machine with your foot. It makes the fluff go into the stuffed animal. You kiss a little cloth heart and say a prayer. You put it in the animal. Sometimes you can put in sound. We put sound in Laura's teddy bear. Brian and I recorded it. When you press its foot it says, "Jesus loves me, this I know! Jesus loves Laura! Hi, Laura!" Then a woman sews it up. You go over to a place where it has air and a little tube. You air wash it. It gets off all the extra fluff. Then you pick out clothes for it. You make a birth certificate or a story on the computer. Then you go pay for it. You pick out ribbons at the cash register. Then you make a box for the teddy bear to go in. Brian made a teddy bear. It doesn't have sound in it, though. It has an army guy suit. His name is Fudgy. Laura's is named Jamie. Mine is a horse. She has a horse-riding suit. Her name is Naomi. We put them away because they are going to be one of our three presents from Santa.
Then we walked down to go see Santa Claus. It said on a little clock, "Santa Claus is feeding his reindeer. He will be back at 3:00." We waited until Santa Claus came back. We were the second people in line. Laura was TERRIFIED of Santa Claus.
We went to chimes, Pioneer Girls, and choir that night. Then we spent the night with Grandma.
On the sixth day of Advent, we went to Sight and Sound and Living Waters with Grandma and Grandpa. But not Laura. L. It's in Pennsylvania. It was very big inside Sight and Sound. In Sight and Sound there were live actors playing Mary, Joseph, the baby, the Romans, and all the nativity characters. There were real live animals, like cows, horses, donkeys and camels and sheep. There were angels, too. They were flying around on cables. There was a lot of music. Living Waters was very small inside the theater. It was colored lights going down on water, and the water spraying up, and it looked very pretty. There was a lot of music, also, and there were a lot of Christmas trees.
On the seventh day of Advent we made some slice-and-bake cookies and hot cocoa.
On the eighth day of Advent we trimmed the tree. We put on the ornaments. My favorites are the angels. One year when I was about five or six I put all the Christmas angels on one branch. It was very heavy. Mommy was very amused. We always have to say, "Laura, No! No!" when Laura gets close to the tree. One time Laura was touching the tree all morning. We kept saying, "Laura! No, No! Don't touch." But then Laura took a long, long dowel and tried to poke some ornaments off the tree. It was like Laura was saying, "I'm far away from it! I'm not touching it! I'm not touching it!"
Laura can say, "Ho! Ho! Ho!" now! It is very cute!
On the ninth day of Advent, we cleaned all day. In the evening, Mommy put up the Tickle Toe. It's sort of like a wreath made out of cloth. When someone walks under the Tickle Toe somebody else jumps out, yells "Tickle Toe!" and tickles their toes. It's sort of like Mistletoe because when somebody walks under it somebody else does something.
On the tenth day of Advent, we decorated the gingerbread houses at Grandma's house. We forgot the Advent candle because Brian was sick and he went to bed early.
On the eleventh day of Advent, I got a stuffed reindeer. Brian got a stuffed reindeer, and Laura got a stuffed angel. Its name is Angelsoft. It has red flannel on the back. It used to be mine but I'll let Laura use it from now on. At night we watched Charlie Brown's Christmas.
On the twelfth day of Advent, we went to Pioneer Girls and choir. There were no chimes because we had a longer choir practice with the older kids (in third grade, fourth grade and fifth grade.) We're not doing chimes in the concert because the younger kids aren't used to the chimes. We're going to play chimes in church in the Spring. When we got home, we got ready for bed. Then Mommy gave us our Advent surprises, which were Minnie and Mickey ornaments.
On the thirteenth day of Advent, I got a snow globe. It has Mary, Joseph and Jesus inside the snow globe. It has a music box in it. It plays Silent Night. We've had it for many years. Brian got a small ceramic tree. It has lights on it. We put them in our rooms.
On the fourteenth day of Advent, we watched Garfield's Christmas. We baked slice-and-bake cookies with Rudolph on them. We got Christmas books from the basement, like The Berenstain Bears Christmas. Laura got a little toy music box. It has two little bears on a drum. It plays "We Wish You a Merry Christmas."
On the fifteenth day Advent I got a new cookie cutter. It's a heart shape. It's a bigger than all the other cookie cutters. Brian got one, too. Brian got a snowflake.
On the sixteenth day of Advent, I had a choir rehearsal. It was good. Then we went to Grandma's house to bake cookies. It was fun. We made sugar cookies. Grandma and Brian made sugar cookie dough when I was at choir. Brian and Grandma made a cranberry string for the birds. When Mommy and I got there, we made chocolate chip/M&M cookie dough. We took a small ice cream scooper and squeezed it and the dough fell down on the parchment paper which is on the cookie sheets. Then we popped it right into the oven, and presto! Bon Appetit! With the sugar cookies we cut them with cookie cutters, like churches and rabbits and dogs and cats and bells. We decorated them with sprinkles and sparkles made out of colored sugar.
On Sunday, the seventeenth day of Advent, Mommy gave us a plastic nativity set. We've had it since I was an infant. It's for smaller kids to play with. I can play with it, though. We went to church, and then we went to Grandmommy's for lunch, and then we went back to church because it was the Christmas concert. We sang about six songs. I sang part of a trio. My cousins came to see it.
After that we went to Grandma's house to see my mom's cousins. They were
there because they were going to Connecticut and they stopped here because they wanted to see us and they were in the neighborhood.
On the eighteenth day of Advent we went to the mall. We went to Build-a-Bear. It was my best friend's birthday. We surprised her at Build-a-Bear. She thought she was just going Christmas shopping. We asked one of the employees if she could say, "Happy Birthday! We have a birthday party here for you." My friend said, "No, you don't." Then I jumped out and said, "Yes, you do!" She made a bear. The bear had a ballet outfit. Her name was Nicole.
On Tuesday, the nineteenth day of Advent, it snowed! We were supposed to have a Christmas party at my Pioneer Girls, but it got cancelled. Brian and I went out to build a snow man, though. We got Christmas headbands. One is a Santa Claus hat, and one is a reindeer antlers. That night we sang with the guitar. My dad played the guitar. We sang Silent Night. To keep Laura quiet, we gave her a cookie. After that, she had to have a bath, because she was a mess. Chocolate was on her eyelid.
On Wednesday, we were at the babysitters' all day because Mommy needed to have Friday off. We opened our Christmas presents at the babysitters'. I got a unicorn Beanie Baby, Brian got an iguana, and Laura got a hedgehog. We gave them snow man ornaments that have their Bible verses, their name, and "2000" on them. And also we got them a Ginny Owens CD. Ginny Owens is a famous singer. She's blind. For Advent surprises I got an inflatable Santa Claus and reindeer. Brian got an inflatable Santa Claus and penguin.
On Thursday, we went to Grandma's house because our babysitter's husband was sick so we couldn't go there. We sledded on cookie sheets. Then Grandma said, "Look in the back of the station wagon, Brian." Brian and I looked in the back of the station wagon, and Brian got a sled! We also made cookies.
On Friday, for Advent surprises we got Christmas Carol beanies. I got Bob Cratchit, Brian got Scrooge, and Laura got Marley's Ghost. They are Disney. Laura got the "Doggie-oof-oof," Goofy. I got Mickey Mouse, and Brian got Scrooge McDuck. I let Brian play with mine and Laura's. (Laura didn't care.) Brian made up a play. My favorite part was when Tiny Tim said, "God is great, God is good, let us thank Him for this food, Amen. Dig In!"
That night, I made a nest out pillows and blankets under the Christmas tree. Brian made one, too. Mommy read part of an abridged A Christmas Carol to us. Abridged means it takes out some of the words.
On Saturday, the twenty-third day of Advent, our Advent surprise was a Tigger draft dodger. It keeps the cold wind out. We went shopping with Daddy for Mommy's Christmas presents. That night we went to my Grandma's house. My Uncle John was there. He has a dog named Critter. He's staying until Christmas, and then leaving for New Jersey again. We talked and we played and we baked for Christmas Eve. I baked Pineapple Simple, which is something that I love, and I baked lemon-poppyseed muffins. I had some help from Mommy. Brian made a chocolate cake for Jesus' birthday cake, and corn pudding, which is something that I like, too.
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