Advent Day 1 - Treasure Hunt

My friend Amber and I were discussing the holidays and how hard it is to pull children/people away from the sole anticipation of a visit from Jolly Old St. Nicholas. Don't think for a second that I am opposed to such a person and/or his visit. I love Santa! But I feel like the focus is on Christmas DAY and mostly for the getting of gifts. Not just my children suffer. I suffer too. I spend the entire month preparing for those few minutes of gift opening and lose the rest of the month.

Anyway, longer story shorter, we decided to have more focus on important things this month - and fun things too! So we invented our own, personalized, amazing Advent Calendar. I am going to post it day by day so that my children and I can remember the things we did this first year. I hope that in the years to come this Advent Calendar will be an anticipated Christmas tradition and a sweet memory of childhood for my children.

Right after Thanksgiving I told the children that they would be able to open a present on December 1. I love for them to hope and dream about what it could be. We built it up until they were SO READY to burst with excitement. Every day has a song that they wake up to and then they get ready, come down, get their stuff gathered, eat breakfast, and THEN they get to open a pocket - IF they are on time.

Day 1. The song was "We Wish You A Merry Christmas." They woke up cheerful and expectant. They hurried down, ready for the day, ate, and then Tanner got to open a box. Inside the box was this poem:

Twas 24 days before Christmas
And hung on the wall
Was an amazing gift…
A surprise for all!
But before it was there
It had to be found
So on a treasure hunt the children went round.
They looked high and low
And followed the clues
To find their present They must start with their shoes…

Madsen got to lead the pack and went to the hall tree that we got (and LOVE) from Mackrory's! Thanks guys. I digress. Madsen led them to the hall tree and they found this:

You have a new clue what will it be?Go and look where you brush your teeth!

Camilla's turn to lead now. They ran up the stairs and found a new clue in the toothbrush drawer:

You are good, you have the clue... Now run to the place where you keep the glue.

Ella led the line of happy runners to the "Kid Cupboard" where they found this final piece:

This is the final clue in our fun…
Just find this one and you’ll be done.
The treasure you find will be great!

Go to a picture of whom we celebrate.

Anna took them to the picture of Jesus in our living room and behind it was a wrapped package with the calendar inside. They all tore it open and I told them to look in the pocket marked "1". They found this:

Great job! You win! We hope you had a blast…
The fun isn’t over – we will make it last
All through the month of December you’ll find
Surprises in these pockets of mine.
Each day you will look when your mom says you may
To see what surprise you have for the day.
Some days will be gifts, some will be treats,
Some will have stories, or places to be,
Whatever the surprise is, each day we’ll discover
More love for mankind, Jesus, and each other!

Merry Month of December!!!

We also had a "Treasure" of Christmas candy in gold and silver wrappers which they got to eat before leaving for school. Fun.

So that was how it all started...