12 Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas...

Instead of doing lots of gifts Christmas morning, we have decided to do the 12 days of Christmas this year.  I wanted to focus more on activities done together as a family.  We are focusing on learning about our Savior, service, and family.  There will be a few gifts given throughout the 12 days.  On Christmas morning we will have our stockings and 1 gift each under the tree. 

It has benn going well so far.  I thought I would share with you what we are doing.

 Day 1:  We opened a Hand of God Journal.  This is just a special journal where each day we will jot down things that Heavenly Father has given us.  Things we are grateful for, tender mercies, anything!

Day 2:  We received our Pixie (Secret Santa) assignment and delivered some gifts to our special family.

Day 3:  We opened a letter writing kit.  It contains everything to keep in touch with family that lives far away.

 Day 4:  We received the assignment to dress up and act out the Nativity story.  Isabelle was Mary, Steve was Joseph, Jakob was a Wise Man, and Karter was a Shephard, but he didn't last until the end.

Day 5:  We had a game night together!  We had a special game of charades that was made up for us.

Day 6:  We went out to dinner together and drove around and looked at Christmas lights.

Day 7:  We will deliver some food and gifts to a family of our choice.

Day 8:  We will open a special Christmas book, other books, and a box of popcorn.  We will spend the day reading together.

Day 9:  We will open ingredients to make treats.  We will make them together and deliver them to the kid's friends (I'll let them choose a couple people) and our neighbors.

Day 10:  Each of the kids will open a special scrapbook just for them.

Day 11:  We will have a family over for dinner and for a special Christmas Eve Program.

Day 12:  (Christmas Morning) We will each receive a gift especially for us!