Advent Jar

Yes, I know it's only the first week of November and a little too early to start Christmas traditions. Wait. In my book, it's never too early for that! But my reason for posting it this week is so if you decide to do it, you'll have some prep time before the first day of Advent. 

The Advent jar was one of my - and Ida's - favorites for many years. We were both sad when age and busy schedules knocked it out of our tradition rotation. The good part was that it was adaptable as they got older, so it lasted as long as it possibly could. 

If your family doesn't celebrate Advent, it can be your Christmas countdown jar instead. If you prefer not to use a jar, there are all kinds of pre-made things out there that you can buy, and some are really neat. But if you are thrifty like me, all you need is a quart size jar and perhaps some fabric or ribbon to make it look festive. 

Inside, I'd place strips of red and green construction paper on which I would write an activity. Some were as simple as read a Christmas book or watch your favorite Christmas movie. Some involved cooking or baking, and some were crafts. When I first started this tradition, we weren't homeschooling yet and had a very flexible schedule, so it was safe to randomly choose a strip and do whatever it said on any given day. As they got older and I had to work around lessons, ballet, and basketball, I would number the strips so that we wouldn't end up with a time-consuming activity on a busy day. Each year there was a bit of a modification to make it fit with our home life. 

We did all kinds of things over the years, and I would be happy to dig out my old list and share some with you, but I have no doubt you can think twenty-four fun things that your children would love. I hope that this tradition becomes part of your family and that you love it as much as we all did. I still have our jar up on a shelf in my homeschooling closet. To this day, I still get nostalgic when I see it, and it still makes me happy.