adventurous

image from marthastewart.com

I've been charmed by advent calendars of late. But rather than a little treat or trinket for each day, I love the idea of making in adventurous advent. Below are the things I plan to include in this year's advent calendar (I know, I know, I'm a little behind on actually making this). Our little Ava might still be too small to appreciate all of them right now, but I hope to instill a sense of tradition in her.

1. Go for a walk in fresh snow
2. Give a gift to Toys for Tots
3. Visit the Nite Lite Christmas light show at Fifth Third Ballpark
4. Sledding
5. Watch the Nutcracker (this year on DVD, but hopefully soon we'll see it live)
6. Visit Santa (I'm still not sure how I feel about this one)
7. Take our Christmas photo
8. Decorate a gingerbread house
9. Decorate the tree
10. Make a popcorn or cranberry garland
11. Watch White Christmas (the best Christmas movie of all time)
12. Make and send Christmas cards
13. Celebrate St. Lucia day with coffee, cinnamon rolls, and lingonberry juice
14. Make orange pomanders
15. Make paper snowflakes
16. Build a snowman
17. Hang a wreath
18. Watch Charlie Brown Christmas
19. Make hot chocolate from scratch
20. Write a letter to Santa
21. Make snow globes
22. Snuggle in front of a warm fire
23. Make Christmas cookies
24. Read The Night Before Christmas
25. Celebrate Christmas!