holiday countdown

Our family loves the December celebrations. While not religious, I am spiritual and I do love festivals and celebrations. Besides a family birthday, December celebrates Saint Nicholas' Day, Winter Solstice, Christmas, and often hosts Hanukkah. (It does this year.) There are other wonderful Saint days in December, as well, but I am sharing  the festivities that we celebrate.

So while we don't specifically celebrate Advent, we really love to make every December day a celebration, including those after Christmas, so we do a holiday countdown through the New Year.

For years, I have been hanging infant socks along a string of fairy lights. Tucked into each sock is a little slip of paper, each slip sharing an activity for the day; bake for a neighbor, make Christmas gifts, winter crafting, enjoy a candy cane, go see holiday lights, go to a winter concert, draw a picture of something you are grateful for, write a letter to someone saying something you love about them, read a new holiday book, do something for someone else, write thank you notes, and so on.

This year, we begin the month with a shopping trip for a family in need that we have "adopted." We began the tradition of "adopting" a family when our kiddos were very young and it is one of our favorite things to do. Our kids have never asked for things for themselves when doing this shopping trip, and that makes my heart sing.