advent calendars galore galore

Do you know what today is?

December 1st!

Which means... the first day of advent!

Here are some fantab ways to countdown to xmas, advent-style.

Kiddley dreams up tons of advent activities for the whole family. As always, Claire at Kiddley is full of great ideas for fun things to keep kids busy, even during the sugar-infused countdown to the big day. Everything from "go out for sushi" to "make decorations for the tree".

Also on Kiddley, a couple of guest posts: Myra from My Little Mochi shares a donwloadable pattern for origami advent snowmen to print, cut, fold and fill with advent surprises. Amanda from SoulesMama suggests making advent stockings to line the mantel. Jo from Artsy Fartsy Mama presents advent on a stick (literally) where the items inside the daily packages are filled with small, natural gifts like shells.

If you've already given up on baking Christmas cookies, put your cookie sheet to good use to create a magnetic advent calendar (pictured here).

This advent calendar by Emilyjoy may also be magnetic (sorry, I can't tell from the photo), and makes use of those cute little tins that always look like they might be useful for something.

Later today (when I can find my photos from last year!) I'll post my tutorial for the advent calendar I made last year: a 3D tree filled with Christmas jokes.

Happy Advent!