2015 Christmas Activities Advent

Hello my book friends,

I know what you are thinking, "Elyse, we JUST had Christmas? What are you doing? Please tell me you aren't one of those Christmas nuts.." Well let me tell you that you are way off base and that yes, perhaps I am tiny bit of a Christmas nut. I do LOVE Christmas, but my tree doesn't go up in October or anything, so clam down. Now that you have calmed yourself down let me tell you the story.

Just after last Christmas (2014) my darling husband told me that he hadn't felt the Christmas joy the way he had in previous years. He was disappointed that all we did was buy gifts and run around all over the city visiting family to give them the gifts and that was it. There was no quality time, no sitting and enjoying the season. I can't tell you how much it broke my heart. I love Christmas so much and once you're an adult Christmas looses a little something. I understood exactly how he felt. But you have to find it other ways. I knew that I had to help my hubby find a new kind of Christmas joy. So I thought about it for a long time. I came up with a plan. I was going to give him a "25 days of Christmas countdown"

Everyone is so busy at Christmas time, I knew that I couldn't try and pack it all in December so I started in November and every few days we did something Christmas-sy together. I had it all planned out so that he couldn't say no. It was done, all we had to do was show up. I bought tickets in advance. I planned it out on the calendar It was great. Let me also say that Christmas can be a tight time financially, I didn't want to break the bank. So some activities were at home, others were free events in our city, and some we spent money on.

I made a list of everything that was fun to do at Christmas. Then I looked up various Christmas events in our city. For example: The German Christmas market, ice skating, building a gingerbread house, donating toys and food, driving around and seeing the lights in our neighbourhood and the caroling trolley. I even had a few nights were I wrote down my favorite Christmas memory (so far) of the two of us, and we just talked about that time and laughed. It was a great plan

I wrote each event down on a calendar I printed off. I made sure that the events were spaced out, and that there weren't too many crammed together that cost money. There were a lot of them, but when you actually thought it out some were quick and others took time. I was so excited. I printed out each day on a card with the activity on it, and I wrapped each card up and put them in a box. I wrote a little poem explaining what it was, and then I waited.

Waiting is NOT my strong suit, but I knew I couldn't give it to him too early. I was dying inside "Will he like it? Will he think I'm crazy?" FINALLY, the day arrived where I could give it to him. I can say that when I brought out a Christmas box to him in the middle of November he was pretty confused. Once he read the poem and opened the box and saw all the little wrapped up cards he was grinning from ear to ear. "Can I open them now?" No I explained that he got to open it up that day only. He was so excited (and I was relieved) midnight on day 1 he eagerly asked me if he could open it now, and the happiness carried us right to Christmas day.

For those of you that follow on Instagram and Facebook, you have already seen the pictures of us out and about. So you know how happy Kyle was and how much fun we had. He kept telling me that he had no idea how he was going to top this next year. I told him that wasn't the point. The point was finding his Christmas joy - mission accomplished. I suggested that he pick his favorite 5 things and set them up for me this year. That way we can reflect on this Christmas countdown and make them our future Christmas traditions.

If you are finding that you have trouble finding your Christmas joy. May I recommend something like this for you. Just getting out and seeing the lights and the crisp air really made us feel like just cuddling up with a cup of hot chocolate and a blanket to enjoy the season.

Love
Elyse