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I am loving the Christmas budget thread as we are really short on money. So besides looking for ways to bless my children with gifts with little cost, I want to find ways to really make the whole season special.

 

Several folks over there mentioned special Advent traditions that they do to make it special. I was curious so what people do so that I can plan - especially if there are things to be made or purchased.

 

Anyone want to share what you do to make Advent special?

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We do an Advent Wreath and a felt calendar, and try to read thru some Scripture.

We make our wreath using live greens, at church the week before--the whole place smells so good as we all sit around large tables and create our family wreaths. I don't like using holly, because it dries out quickly and boy, those prickly leaves hurt! So there will be the usual family discussion about that...LOL!

 

My mom made us a felt calendar many years ago. It has a tree and little ornaments of felt, one per day. It's actually not an Advent Calendar, as it starts with Dec 1, but that's ok.

 

We light the wreath candles (3 purples, 1 rose) at dinner, one candle per week. We say they stand for several things--YMMV, but in our house, the first is for the Prophets (who foretold the Messiah's coming), the second for the Angels (who told Mary she'd bear the Saviour), the 3rd is to honor Mary (Guadete Sunday), and the fourth is for the Shepherds (the first visitors). Sometimes we use a white one on Christmas.

 

We also do a creche. We have one from the Holy Land. It goes on the mantle, and we put the Wise Men farther away, to be moved a little closer each day from Dec 25 to Jan 6. We keep Baby Jesus out of the manger until Christmas Eve.

 

I love Advent! I love Lent, too. These times of preparation are very important to my spiritual life.

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These aren't really Advent traditions, but they do fall in December and are Christmas related:

 

Feast of St. Nicholas: My kids get a visit from St. Nicholas and Krampusz on the night of Dec. 5. They leave out their crocs and get chocolate coins, a candy cane and a clementine from the good guy and a small bunch of switches from the grumpy sidekick. I also print out some old cards I found online and write them a note praising their good behavior and noting some area for improvement.

 

Feast of St. Lucia: My dd dresses up in a white and red dress with a poinsettia wreath in her hair (no candles!) to serve us a special breakfast. We make orange rolls and mini pan de jamon (ham, olives and raisins rolled in crescent roll dough) and have clementines. We set the table with our good plates and candes and a gold table cloth and have a special breakfast even if it's a weekday. I made this family tradition up out of whole cloth. We're not Swedish, but I thought it was fun and not hard to implement and I only have one girl so there's no fighting over who gets to be Lucia. The boys are just happy to get a special breakfast and don't really want to wear the wreath. When they were younger, I got them pointy party hats and let them be star boys. If you like American Girl books, Kirsten celebrates this holiday. Dd is taking a Kirsten class in coop this year and I found a St. Lucia doll outfit on Amazon so her doll will be participating too this year.

 

For Advent, we read Geraldine Macaughrean's Jesse Tree book and hang a felt ornament on a small artificial tree (desk top size from Target) for each story. The kids REALLY like to do this. If I forget, they always remind me.

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We will be doing the Jesse tree this year. Our Advent observance usually fizzles out mid-December, so we're making this part of the homeschool curriculum for December with the goal of keeping it up until Christmas! In addition to making the ornaments for our tree, we will make ornaments for gifts for our family.

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We don't do advent beyond the ol' countdown calendar the kids open each day, but on solstice we do have a few little traditions. We all come home early, before dark, have an easy slow-cooking soup or stew on the stove and crusty bread for dinner, turn lights down low, and enjoy a family time just the four of us before the craziness of Christmas proper. We read books, maybe work on some handmade crafts, listen to music or play games, and if it doesn't rain we have a bonfire and enjoy being outside in the darkness. We love it. :)

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We love having family devotions with an Advent wreath. When the kids were little we would have to make a schedule since they all wanted to be the ones to light or extinguish the candles! Other jobs were to read the devotion, lead the prayer, etc.

 

A felt countdown banner with devotions that I made years ago in MOPS was our standby for many, many years. We've used devotionals from Creative Communications and other places. For something different, we've used dvds. http://www.christianbook.com/advent-calendar-on-2-volumes/pd/010134?item_code=WW&netp_id=616569&event=ESRCG&view=details

 

We have never used a Jesse Tree, but that's another idea.

http://aholyexperience.com/1000/AJesusAdventCelebration.pdf

 

I would love to make the candle spiral that Ann's son makes. (The link shows it being used at Lent, but it can also be used at Advent.)

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/05/for-the-greatest-gift-is-becoming-a-gift/

 

http://adventtolenttoascensionwreath.blogspot.ca/

 

I've thought of adapting the Elf on the Shelf idea and having it be John the Baptist preparing the way for the Savior. (If anyone wants to be notified if I get it done, pm me with your email address.)

 

Thanks for bringing this topic up yet in September! I am the same way-- finding great ideas that take time to prepare-- just days before Advent starts.

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I made little envelopes out of Christmas themed scrapbook paper several years ago. I hang them from a piece of yarn using little clothespins. In each envelope is an activity for the day. All of the activities are things we would do anyway get a tree, shop for gifts, make cookies etc. It provides a great visual to how many days left until Christmas and the kids really look forward to finding out the days activity.

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Well my Christmases have never been low budget (I love it too much and love celebrating holidays in a major way), but we do have lots of Advent and Christmas traditions.

 

We have the typical countdown calendars. In fact, I love collecting Advent calendars, so we have quite a few of them. LOL

 

We have a devotional every night where we light a candle that is marked from Dec. 1st - 24th, so while the candle burns, we have a little lesson on Christmas traditions, a scripture reading, a fun activity or something like that.

 

We celebrate St. Nicholas Day. My kids leave their shoes out the night before, and St. Nicholas leaves them small gifts. When they were little, it used to be a Christmas video, book and activity, because who wanted those on Christmas Day? It was a great way to get them into the spirit of Christmas. They also got candy and ALWAYS get gold chocolate coins...St. Nicholas tradition.

 

We celebrate St. Lucia Day. When my dd was little, she wore the St. Lucia crown that American Girl used to sell and brought us all St. Lucia buns for breakfast...in bed. Traditional and fun.

 

We do neighbor gifts (Utah tradition). My kids (well, mostly my dd, lol) have fun picking out what we're going to share with our neighbors and friends. We have fun wrapping them and putting a cute little saying with every gift. Last year we bought Christmas soap from Bath&Body Works and the tag said, "Hope your Christmas is full of good, clean fun!"

 

We always choose a child from the Angel Tree and go nuts buying so many fun things! We always pick little girls, because my dd and I miss buying girl toys. It's always so much fun for us!

 

We read a Christmas story (or a chapter from one) every night starting with Thanksgiving night. On Christmas Eve, we read the Christmas story from the book of Luke before we go to bed.

 

Each of my kids has their own small Christmas tree for their rooms that they can decorate any way they want. It's been fun over the years watching their style develop.

 

We have a TON of decorations all over our house and yard. We have our very traditionally decorated family tree in the living room, and our Disney tree downstairs with all the ornaments we've collected at Disney World over the years. Lots of fun memories there.

 

I bake like my pants are on fire at Christmas. We have a dozen different types of cookies (sometimes more), plus candy, cakes and other fun stuff. A couple of weeks of dieting in January is a MUST! :D

 

When my kids were little, they used to like to have a "sleepover" in the living room on Dec. 23rd, under the lit Christmas tree (ours is always artificial). We would have cocoa and Christmas cookies, read our story, and they would fall asleep in their sleeping bags, under the tree, with Christmas carols playing in the background.

 

When Santa comes, he leaves snowy footprints from the fireplace to the tree. I press moonboots in corn starch and leave a trail. I still have to do this, even though my oldest two are in college. :D

 

Santa leaves one small present on each child's bed for them on Christmas morning. This was originally done to keep them occupied and in their rooms until after 7 AM. Now, it's just tradition.

 

A performance of the Nutcraker is a must. Usually many, many performances, since dd is a ballet dancer. I still love it, even though I can hum the entire score by heart. :lol:

 

My kids can't come down and see the tree on Christmas morning until they hear Manheim Steamroller's "Deck the Halls" playing.

 

We have a special Christmas brunch that we eat after everyone opens their presents.

 

We celebrate all twelve days of Christmas with a fun activity on each one. Concerts, shopping, lunch at restaurant, sledding, etc.

 

We celebrate Twelfth Night with a huge family dinner (and I always honor my heritage by serving Italian food). We have Christmas crackers waiting on everyone's plate (a nod to my dh's English heritage) and wear the paper hats all through dinner. Sometime between eating and cleaning up, the Wise Men visit and leave each child 3 presents. I love doing this with gifts I feel might get overlooked in the hustle and bustle of Christmas Day. Plus, we always get a family board game which we play that night.

 

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but if I come up with more, I'll add them.

 

Did I mention I love Christmas??? :D

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Well my Christmases have never been low budget (I love it too much and love celebrating holidays in a major way), but we do have lots of Advent and Christmas traditions.

 

We have the typical countdown calendars. In fact, I love collecting Advent calendars, so we have quite a few of them. LOL

 

We have a devotional every night where we light a candle that is marked from Dec. 1st - 24th, so while the candle burns, we have a little lesson on Christmas traditions, a scripture reading, a fun activity or something like that.

 

We celebrate St. Nicholas Day. My kids leave their shoes out the night before, and St. Nicholas leaves them small gifts. When they were little, it used to be a Christmas video, book and activity, because who wanted those on Christmas Day? It was a great way to get them into the spirit of Christmas. They also got candy and ALWAYS get gold chocolate coins...St. Nicholas tradition.

 

We celebrate St. Lucia Day. When my dd was little, she wore the St. Lucia crown that American Girl used to sell and brought us all St. Lucia buns for breakfast...in bed. Traditional and fun.

 

We do neighbor gifts (Utah tradition). My kids (well, mostly my dd, lol) have fun picking out what we're going to share with our neighbors and friends. We have fun wrapping them and putting a cute little saying with every gift. Last year we bought Christmas soap from Bath&Body Works and the tag said, "Hope your Christmas is full of good, clean fun!"

 

We always choose a child from the Angel Tree and go nuts buying so many fun things! We always pick little girls, because my dd and I miss buying girl toys. It's always so much fun for us!

 

We read a Christmas story (or a chapter from one) every night starting with Thanksgiving night. On Christmas Eve, we read the Christmas story from the book of Luke before we go to bed.

 

Each of my kids has their own small Christmas tree for their rooms that they can decorate any way they want. It's been fun over the years watching their style develop.

 

We have a TON of decorations all over our house and yard. We have our very traditionally decorated family tree in the living room, and our Disney tree downstairs with all the ornaments we've collected at Disney World over the years. Lots of fun memories there.

 

I bake like my pants are on fire at Christmas. We have a dozen different types of cookies (sometimes more), plus candy, cakes and other fun stuff. A couple of weeks of dieting in January is a MUST! :D

 

When my kids were little, they used to like to have a "sleepover" in the living room on Dec. 23rd, under the lit Christmas tree (ours is always artificial). We would have cocoa and Christmas cookies, read our story, and they would fall asleep in their sleeping bags, under the tree, with Christmas carols playing in the background.

 

When Santa comes, he leaves snowy footprints from the fireplace to the tree. I press moonboots in corn starch and leave a trail. I still have to do this, even though my oldest two are in college. :D

 

Santa leaves one small present on each child's bed for them on Christmas morning. This was originally done to keep them occupied and in their rooms until after 7 AM. Now, it's just tradition.

 

A performance of the Nutcraker is a must. Usually many, many performances, since dd is a ballet dancer. I still love it, even though I can hum the entire score by heart. :lol:

 

My kids can't come down and see the tree on Christmas morning until they hear Manheim Steamroller's "Deck the Halls" playing.

 

We have a special Christmas brunch that we eat after everyone opens their presents.

 

We celebrate all twelve days of Christmas with a fun activity on each one. Concerts, shopping, lunch at restaurant, sledding, etc.

 

We celebrate Twelfth Night with a huge family dinner (and I always honor my heritage by serving Italian food). We have Christmas crackers waiting on everyone's plate (a nod to my dh's English heritage) and wear the paper hats all through dinner. Sometime between eating and cleaning up, the Wise Men visit and leave each child 3 presents. I love doing this with gifts I feel might get overlooked in the hustle and bustle of Christmas Day. Plus, we always get a family board game which we play that night.

 

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but if I come up with more, I'll add them.

 

Did I mention I love Christmas??? :D

 

Can my children and I come and spend Christmas at your house??? LOL. Sounds amazing!

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Our family's favorite Advent tradition is attending a traditional (ala Kings College, Cambridge UK - in our case, Episcopal) Lessons and Carols service . If you can find one in your area, I'd highly recommend it!

 

On Advent Sunday nights before bed, we have family Advent time with singing, lighting candles, reading scripture and poetry, and special snacks. We are learning the O Antiphons for the last days of Advent. We use our Christmas mugs (from the dollar store) for hot chocolate and use Christmas placemats (also from the dollar store) and have treats that we only have during Advent - homemade lefse or Walkers shortbread, or things like that.

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For Advent, we try to maintain a peaceful, recollected, and anticipatory atmosphere. We avoid sweets and parties, particularly during the fast days of Advent Embertide (the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after St. Lucy's Day) - quite a challenge when everyone is having their Christmas parties! St. Nicholas' Day makes for a nice "intermission" in this "waiting for Christmas" period.

 

We do put up a tree - turns out selection is pretty thin if you wait till right before Christmas - but don't decorate until Christmas Eve, when the children decorate it. We have a Jesse Tree for remembering salvation history, a crèche sans Infant Christ (who appears of course Christmas morning, at which time the Magi start wending their slow way toward the crèche), and an Advent wreath for evening prayer. We use red candles, lighting another one at each Sunday's First Vespers, and pray the collect for that Sunday, followed by singing the antiphon "Rorate coeli desuper et nubes pluant justum/ Aperiatur terra et germinet salvatorum." On the Golden Nights, we sing the 'O' antiphon for that night.

 

On Christmas Day the revelry begins, with the help of all the lovely discounted Christmas delicacies at Central Market (last year we scored a foot-tall chocolate Santa on a donkey for a few dollars :D), culminating in a Twelfth Night party with traditional food and drink, the music and entertainment provided by guests and children according to their various talents.

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Can my children and I come and spend Christmas at your house??? LOL. Sounds amazing!

 

Diane, I'm coming for Christmas too... maybe you can teach me how to do it up right, LOL!!

 

Such great ideas, I love it!! I am planning to incorporate more into Advent and I think we'll celebrate St. Nicholas day this year too.

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WOW! Can you please organize my life, give me specific gift and fun ideas, come here and help me get them done this first year, and then be my Christmas Advisor in years to come? I can only wish I was this kind of mom. I really do wish it, I'm just not good at it! :lol:

 

Well my Christmases have never been low budget (I love it too much and love celebrating holidays in a major way), but we do have lots of Advent and Christmas traditions.

 

We have the typical countdown calendars. In fact, I love collecting Advent calendars, so we have quite a few of them. LOL

 

We have a devotional every night where we light a candle that is marked from Dec. 1st - 24th, so while the candle burns, we have a little lesson on Christmas traditions, a scripture reading, a fun activity or something like that.

 

We celebrate St. Nicholas Day. My kids leave their shoes out the night before, and St. Nicholas leaves them small gifts. When they were little, it used to be a Christmas video, book and activity, because who wanted those on Christmas Day? It was a great way to get them into the spirit of Christmas. They also got candy and ALWAYS get gold chocolate coins...St. Nicholas tradition.

 

We celebrate St. Lucia Day. When my dd was little, she wore the St. Lucia crown that American Girl used to sell and brought us all St. Lucia buns for breakfast...in bed. Traditional and fun.

 

We do neighbor gifts (Utah tradition). My kids (well, mostly my dd, lol) have fun picking out what we're going to share with our neighbors and friends. We have fun wrapping them and putting a cute little saying with every gift. Last year we bought Christmas soap from Bath&Body Works and the tag said, "Hope your Christmas is full of good, clean fun!"

 

We always choose a child from the Angel Tree and go nuts buying so many fun things! We always pick little girls, because my dd and I miss buying girl toys. It's always so much fun for us!

 

We read a Christmas story (or a chapter from one) every night starting with Thanksgiving night. On Christmas Eve, we read the Christmas story from the book of Luke before we go to bed.

 

Each of my kids has their own small Christmas tree for their rooms that they can decorate any way they want. It's been fun over the years watching their style develop.

 

We have a TON of decorations all over our house and yard. We have our very traditionally decorated family tree in the living room, and our Disney tree downstairs with all the ornaments we've collected at Disney World over the years. Lots of fun memories there.

 

I bake like my pants are on fire at Christmas. We have a dozen different types of cookies (sometimes more), plus candy, cakes and other fun stuff. A couple of weeks of dieting in January is a MUST! :D

 

When my kids were little, they used to like to have a "sleepover" in the living room on Dec. 23rd, under the lit Christmas tree (ours is always artificial). We would have cocoa and Christmas cookies, read our story, and they would fall asleep in their sleeping bags, under the tree, with Christmas carols playing in the background.

 

When Santa comes, he leaves snowy footprints from the fireplace to the tree. I press moonboots in corn starch and leave a trail. I still have to do this, even though my oldest two are in college. :D

 

Santa leaves one small present on each child's bed for them on Christmas morning. This was originally done to keep them occupied and in their rooms until after 7 AM. Now, it's just tradition.

 

A performance of the Nutcraker is a must. Usually many, many performances, since dd is a ballet dancer. I still love it, even though I can hum the entire score by heart. :lol:

 

My kids can't come down and see the tree on Christmas morning until they hear Manheim Steamroller's "Deck the Halls" playing.

 

We have a special Christmas brunch that we eat after everyone opens their presents.

 

We celebrate all twelve days of Christmas with a fun activity on each one. Concerts, shopping, lunch at restaurant, sledding, etc.

 

We celebrate Twelfth Night with a huge family dinner (and I always honor my heritage by serving Italian food). We have Christmas crackers waiting on everyone's plate (a nod to my dh's English heritage) and wear the paper hats all through dinner. Sometime between eating and cleaning up, the Wise Men visit and leave each child 3 presents. I love doing this with gifts I feel might get overlooked in the hustle and bustle of Christmas Day. Plus, we always get a family board game which we play that night.

 

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but if I come up with more, I'll add them.

 

Did I mention I love Christmas??? :D

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Well if you are going to talk about Advent, I have to mention the Advent Conspiracy. They want you to turn Christmas upside down. Instead of making the season about shopping for Christmas, they want you to give your time and energy instead. Use all of the money you'd spend buying plastic Christmas trees, and send it to Africa to build wells for clean water. Churches all across the country are participating.

 

I have my own thoughts about how our family has tried to learn from the Advent Conspiracy on my blog. We try to use the whole season of Advent as a way to think about helping others. Just skip all my "bla bla blah stuff" and watch the video. I can't get through it without crying.

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Last year was our first time really celebrating Advent. Every night, we lit the appropriate candle/candles in our Advent wreath, hung an ornament on the Jesse Tree, and read that day's reading. We also had an Advent calendar with a Bible verse behind each window. We set out our nativity stable, but only put the shepherd and animals around it. We started the Mary, Joseph, and donkey figures on their journey throughout the house toward the stable, moving them a little closer each night.

 

We celebrated St. Nicholas Day by having the kids write or draw their Christmas lists in the form of a letter to the Christ Child. They rolled those up and placed them in their shoes at the foot of their beds. During the night, St. Nicholas came to take their letters and left a handful of gold (chocolate) coins in their stead.

 

On St. Lucy's Day, we planted a small container of wheat. It's an old Croatian custom and it was fun to watch it get taller and taller as we approached Christmas day.

 

From the 17th through the 24th, we recited the O Antiphons during our nightly ceremony.

 

On Christmas Eve, we went and got our tree and decorated it and the house. All through Advent, we don't watch any Christmas shows or listen to Christmas music. We listen to Advent music instead. We start listening to Christmas music and watching Christmas shows on Christmas Day and we celebrate the 12 days of Christmas.

 

Starting on Christmas Day, we set our Wise Men figurines on their journey through the house to arrive at the stable on the Epiphany. On the Epiphany, we also renew our chalk blessing over our front door.

 

Last year, we had so much going on during Advent that Christmas kind of seemed empty. This year, I'm going to purchase a bunch of little gifts (crayons, coloring books, etc.) and wrap them all separately. Each morning of Christmas, the kids will get one little present at the foot of their beds. We're also going to do a Twelve Days of Christmas tree, which reminds me I need to get those ornaments printed out soon!

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Diane, I'm coming for Christmas too... maybe you can teach me how to do it up right, LOL!!

 

Such great ideas, I love it!! I am planning to incorporate more into Advent and I think we'll celebrate St. Nicholas day this year too.

 

WOW! Can you please organize my life, give me specific gift and fun ideas, come here and help me get them done this first year, and then be my Christmas Advisor in years to come? I can only wish I was this kind of mom. I really do wish it, I'm just not good at it! :lol:

 

My best resource has been Mrs. Sharp's Traditions. It was first published when my oldest son was born, and I started incorporating all of her fabulous holiday ideas. It became second nature after the first year or two. It's no longer in print, but you can still buy it used on Amazon. The cheap one first (this was a reprint of the original about 10 years ago...I snagged a copy for my dd when it came out again):

 

http://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Breathnachs-Mrs-Sharps-Traditions/dp/074321076X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348952270&sr=8-1&keywords=mrs.+sharp%27s+traditions

 

The original, gorgeous volume that I have:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Sharps-Traditions-Sarah-Breathnach/dp/067169569X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348952270&sr=8-2&keywords=mrs.+sharp%27s+traditions

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We love advent! It's incorporated in our Moravian church as well. We enjoy our church traditions and at home we have our candle/wreath and enjoy these readings:

 

http://www.christianbook.com/ytreeide-advent-stories-3-volumes/arnold-ytreeide/pd/41720X?event=61984SBF%7C1697995%7C101260

 

We read one book each year in order and it is great fun for our boys!

 

We do a lot more but this is the easiest idea to share!!

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  • 2 weeks later...
My best resource has been Mrs. Sharp's Traditions. It was first published when my oldest son was born, and I started incorporating all of her fabulous holiday ideas. It became second nature after the first year or two. It's no longer in print, but you can still buy it used on Amazon. The cheap one first (this was a reprint of the original about 10 years ago...I snagged a copy for my dd when it came out again):

 

http://www.amazon.com/Sarah-Breathnachs-Mrs-Sharps-Traditions/dp/074321076X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348952270&sr=8-1&keywords=mrs.+sharp%27s+traditions

 

The original, gorgeous volume that I have:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Sharps-Traditions-Sarah-Breathnach/dp/067169569X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1348952270&sr=8-2&keywords=mrs.+sharp%27s+traditions

 

I've been looking for whoever recommended Mrs. Sharp's traditions book. I got that from the library last week and had a lot of fun going through picking out ideas to add to my family's existing traditions. Thanks for recommending it!

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I've been looking for whoever recommended Mrs. Sharp's traditions book. I got that from the library last week and had a lot of fun going through picking out ideas to add to my family's existing traditions. Thanks for recommending it!

 

You're welcome! It's my favorite! :D

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I made a big quilted wall hanging with advent pockets. We write each other dumb little love notes and leave them. I do fun "clue note" scavenger hunt type things for a little prize in some of the pockets. They like them so much they could care less what is at the end.

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