Practical Advent-ing

For a long time, I struggled with traditions. I don't always like to do the same thing year after year, so as I started my own family, I just winged it for a long time. Now that I have three kids, I'm a little more apt to form traditions. I, myself, still don't care to do the same things over and over year after year, but my kids are starting to remember events past, and with those memories come anticipation and expectation. I was surprised in October when Nicky asked me if he got to eat a Lunchable during General Conference because that's what he did "last time." I felt horrible when I had to explain to him that I didn't buy him a Lunchable for General Conference (then I hurried and whipped up a Conference Bingo card for him to make amends because I knew that's what he would ask for next). I know that traditions are important and that they mean a lot to my children, so I'm trying to be more consistent with having them (even accidental ones like Lunchables during General Conference).

About three years ago, I was mulling over holiday traditions and trying to figure out what - if anything - I could do with my children during the days leading up to Christmas. I saw a lot of neat ideas online (this was back in the days before Pinterest, but the internet was no less daunting), but all of them were way to over-the-top and elaborate for my taste, not to mention time-consuming and expensive.

I saw things like, "Buy 25 Christmas books, wrap them, then let your kids pick one each evening to read together next to the Christmas tree." I thought about doing the library/thrift store/books-I-already-have version of that, but my desire to follow through was minimal.

There was the whole, "Elf on a Shelf" deal, which was cute for a minute, but again, too time-consuming. Our Elf would probably sit in one place for the entire season, and my kids would just think it was dead and start poking it with a stick.

There were all sorts of advent activities and countdowns and crafts that my brain just about went kaput. Even the spiritual activities seemed way too showy and complicated to me.

My pre-Christmas tradition needed to be simple, inexpensive, and easy to execute.

That year I decided to make a good, old, paper chain with a link for each day until Christmas starting with the day after Thanksgiving. I wrote an activity on each link, and my kids removed a link each day and did the activity.

 

{Hello, pre-cut chain links purchased from Walmart for 97¢}

I know, this is nothing new or exciting. Lots of people do something similar.

But wait...

The activities were fast and easy. Things like, "Sing Frosty the Snowman." None of this "Go to Temple Square" or "Bake Cookies" nonsense (because I can't handle things like that). I took full advantage of our calendar and used Christmas parties, TV movies, and even birthdays to our advantage. The link for December 14 said, "It's Grandma's birthday! Take a present to her house!" because guess what! We were going to do that anyway! So there was no extra work on my part (short of writing it on the chain). Then my kids were totally excited because THE CHAIN HAD SPOKEN.

Now the tradition holds firm; we've done it for three years. Some of the usual activities are:

-Attending Christmas parties (we get about five days out of this one)
-Watching Holiday movies on TV (about once a week)
-Singing Christmas songs
-Adding pieces to the Nativity (so our Nativity builds over time - Jesus being the final piece added on Christmas Eve)
-Going to birthday parties (we usually have about three in December)
-Having Family Home Evening (once a week)
-Drinking hot chocolate
-Making a Christmas craft (purchased from the $1 bins at Target - no cutting or planning necessary)

My children LOVE this tradition. It just goes to show that you don't have to sew, bake, buy pretty things, or overwhelm yourself to give your children wonderful memories. There is room in traditions for practicality, and children appreciate simple things.