Thank you, Jordan Ferney.

Thank you, Jordan Ferney, professional blogger and seemingly very cool girl, for your great idea about advent calendars.

I have to say that even though professional bloggers' lives seem so disconnected with the life I find myself in, I am often inspired and think to myself,  "Hm. I could try that." And that is exactly what this post made me do.  So thank you, Oh Happy Day, for providing my family with a new holiday tradition!  Yay!

As Ms. Ferney's blog points out, this is a great way to help us actually do all the things we always want to do, but often don't leading up to Christmas.  This year I actually planned it out, looking at my calendar, and then wrote everything down, so I could be prepared.  For example, I want to have all ingredients on hand if we are supposed to make sugar cookies or orange pomanders one day.  (Yes, we are doing those.)  It has helped to set aside a time to go for a "Winter Wonderland Walk," go caroling to a neighbor's house, read about Samuel the Lamanite's prophecy in the Book of Mormon, or deliver a secret gift. Not that we won't also be spontaneous, but that we are guaranteed to spend some time on each of these.

I got this muffin tin advent calendar from my friend, Christy, last year.  It is a mini-muffin pan, so it is perfect for putting slips of paper inside telling which holiday activity we will do that day.  I started making one like the Pottery Barn one, but it will have to wait until next year.  Stay tuned.

Day one:  Make a paper chain to count down the days.

An unofficial activity not found in the advent calendar:  Make pet beds.

THIS activity was also not on the calendar.  But it was fun too:

By the way, all these activities are coinciding perfectly with our new "no screens" rule. I will dedicate an entire post to this topic soon. But we have found that tv, computer, iPhone, etc. were making our kids mean. MEAN! So all these creative outlets have been a huge help.