Today’s Awesome post is brought to you by Rosilind from A little R & R!
Many of my fondest childhood memories surround Christmastime. The lights and snow, the smells and lovely decorations, the music and all of the fun things you can do to make the holidays so special.
It truly is a time when adults become childlike and celebrate with unreserved abandon.
At least it was that way at our house.
And now that I have kids of my own, I have fun each year trying out new ideas that perhaps may become a family tradition in the years to come.
This is one idea I can’t wait to try out this year. Somehow, I have a feeling that this one is destined to be repeated year after year.
The great thing about this is that it can be adapted to any age!
As soon as the tree is decorated, I will wrap up 12 gifts and put them under the tree. During the 12 days of Christmas we will open one gift each day to reveal a fun family activity!
What is even better about this is that it doesn’t have to be expensive. Many of the ideas here are for things we already have around the home.
Our 12 Days of Christmas Family Fun are:
1. A Christmas cartoon – this is something we already have. I only bring out the Christmas cartoons during the Christmas season, so they remain special!
2. A Christmas book – again, this is something we already have and like the cartoons, I pack away our Christmas books and reserve them only for the Christmas season.
3. A Christmas coloring book or set of coloring sheets and a box of crayons or markers
4. Cookie sprinkles and a small apron – because we will make Christmas cookies together!
5. Hot cocoa and mini marshmallows
6. Craft supplies to make a homemade Christmas ornament
7. A fun Christmas CD for a sing and dance party
8. A plastic nativity set to play with – but don’t wrap up baby Jesus, because we’ll do that later!
9. A star for the top of the tree
10. Hat, gloves and mitten set – because we’re going out to play in the snow!
11. A decorative gift bag – because today we are going to gather up a few of our nicer toys for boys and girls who wont have a Christmas
12. Baby Jesus – today on Jesus’ birthday we will put baby Jesus in the manger
Jennifer Dougan says
Dear Paula and Rosilind,
What a fun idea to wrap up activity prompts for the whole family. :) I haven’t heard of that before and like the idea.
Fun to “see” you both again! Have a great week,
Jennifer Dougan
http://www.jenniferdougan.com
Paula says
I thought it was brilliant too! (and I can say that, since it was all Rosilind’s Idea!) Great to see you here again as well! :)
Rosilind @ A Little R & R says
Thanks Jennifer! I can’t wait to do this with my kids this year. They are just now starting to get into the whole “gift” thing, so it should be loads of fun. It’s great to “see” you, too!
Angela England says
What a great idea Rosalind – thanks Paula for sharing your link on Untrained Housewife’s page – this was a great post. I love the idea of doing something fun for the family over the course of the 12 Days of Christmas. Very clever!
Paula says
Thanks for coming by, Angela! I can’t wait to try this idea that Rosilind shared either! :)
Rosilind @ A Little R & R says
Thanks Angela. I am looking forward to trying this out on my kids – I have a suspicion it’s going to be a huge hit!