tutorial 15 - advent calendar

tutorial 25!!!! I can't believe I've gotten this far. I'm having so much fun. Being really, really tired today, though, I didn't quite finish todays post, I dare you to figure out what's not finished...

I've told you before how I want my girls to learn how Christmas is not just about them receiving many gifts. We're doing an activity calendar - where we both focus on spending fun time together as a family and care about other people.

Then Kirstin from KoJo Designs had THIS post over at I am Mommy. Hear me Roar - and I was smitten - I looooove the idea. But Christmas traditions are different in Norway than in the US - we celebrate the 24th, we put up the tree the 23rd, so this idea didn't really work for me. Then it just HIT me - why not incorporate Kirstin's Idea with mine?

Here is my girls' advent calendar:

 Instead of just making notes about our activity that day, I sewed up a square with the numbers on one side and a pocket to hold the note on the other side. On the pocket I wrote the names of Jesus on -that way we can have a nice talk about Jesus being the reason for the season every day!

 I cut out 24 pieces of one fabric and 24 pieces of the other - 4x3 inch - wrote the numbers with a fabric pen - I was in a rush, it would have been nice to hand stitch all the numbers and all the names, maybe next year...

 I wrote with capital letters so that they can read them more easily - and in Norwegian. Kirstin's original post has a link to all the names.

 Cut out 24 pockets - a little smaller than the main piece - I cut the main pieces with my cutting board, but the pockets with zig zag scissors. Sew the pocket on.

 Put the two pieces together - leave a piece of string on top, and sew around all four sides.

 Cut around the sides with the zig zg scissors - the fabric won't fray.

 Put them up on your calendar, and turn one at a time.

 Let's picture it's the 4th - the pocket holds the note about the activity, we're going to talk about Jesus being the bread of life - and in a basket on the floor underneath everything we're going to use for the activity that day will be. Figured it's important to be ready for the activity, it's more likely it'll get done that way.

I'm so thankful I read Kirstin's post - this is exactly what I wanted for advent for my girls!