This Years Advent Fun Involves Writing A Story.

Every year we put the little stockings I made years ago up, hanging from the banister, going up the stairs.

Each year I do the whole advent thing a little bit differently. There is always a sweet treat, a message from the Christmas Elf and then a quiz or puzzle or Christmas Joke.

One year he had maths questions to solve, which sounds a bit mean but he LOVED it, he was really into maths at the time. Another year he had to solve a riddle, this year Christmas Elf has asked for help...

***

Dear Ebi-kun (Christmas Elf actually uses his real name!)

Santa has assigned me a very important job this year. I need to write a story to read out to all the elves after they have finished all their work on Christmas Eve. I am VERY busy so I was hoping you could help me out.

Please use this book to write the story, this is the way to start it*

Once upon a time, in the middle of winter a snow storm raged. Two friends held hands as they trudged through the freezing blizzard to...

When you have finished the first part of the story, show the Mama Elf - she is the one with the red hair, I have left a clue with her on the whereabouts of the magical Christmas Market.

***

When Ebi-kun has finished each section of the story, he shows me and I give him a clue to where the actual advent calendar is, I managed to get a traditional one from kaldi Coffee Farm, where you open the window each day, it is designed to look like a Christmas market! I will change the location every night (if I remember!)

*I also plan to give him prompts along the way to make the story more interesting.

I can't wait to see how this rolls out. And of course it's a sneaky way to get writing practice in, something he doesn't get enough of.

And as our tradition goes, I also pop a little bit of something in each stocking that is a part of a game or puzzle but he doesn't get the complete set until Christmas eve.

In the past I have put in Lego, a few blocks a day - he had no idea what it was going make, that was fun! Card games have been popular, especially when we were traveling in December, it made the portable advent calendar possible! 

This year is a new card game, which I'm looking forward to playing on Christmas Eve!

How do you do your advent? This is very different from mine when I was a kid, we got a paper calendar which had a crap picture behind each window!

Those were the days!

Quick reminder - if you haven't signed up for the FREE Holiday productivity Challenge, pop your name in the box below - it's going to be fun and you will get stuff done because I will be keeping you accountable!

It will free up more time and help you to get the important jobs done and out of the way so that you can enjoy the holidays (plus they are skills you can use again and again)

Introducing Eric…

Eric the Elf has come to stay with us this year. He is not like that mischievous Elf On The Shelf, Eric hides somewhere new each night and likes to leave a challenge for Ebi-kun to do each day…

Day 1 - Help a stranger

Day 2 - Send a postcard to a friend

Day 3 - Make a new tree for the Winter Forest (we have set up in the genkan)

Eric has an uncanny way of sneaking English, the spirit of giving and crafting into the challenges and seems to know what kind of challenge will fit in with our schedule for the day!

If you would like to keep up with the adventures of Eric you can following him on Instragram HERE

For the advent countdown this year, Ebi-kun gets a chocolate coin and a Christmas Joke, nice and simple this year. How about you? What kind of advent traditions do you have?

This Years Travelling Advent...(tutorial)

We will be travelling around quite a bit the first part of December, so I decided to make a travelling advent again.

This year I have made it more like a book, the pages are envelopes which double as pockets. I thought that as he emptied the advent goodies he could then use the book for collecting bits and bobs from our travels. Much easier to gave them all in one place!

That is why is decided to leave the front white, then Ebi-kun can decorate it himself. It was simple to make, I did it one evening after he had gone to bed, so the pictures are a bit dark.

Supplies:
Envelopes - I use plain ones but you could use fancy ones
punch
Card for the cover (cereal boxes work well)
pens and MT tape for decorating
Thread and big needle
Ribbon (not shown)

First decorate your envelopes, or not, it is totally up to you!

Punch 5 holes, equally apart along the bottom edge of the envelopes, I marked one, punched the holes and then used that as a template for the rest.

Cut 2 pieces of card to be your cover, slightly bigger than your envelopes and punch holes in them too. Use Japanese binding to sew up the edge, if you don't know how to do it, it is dead easy and I have a step by step tutorial here.

Add some ribbon to the card covers, I made a slit and threaded the ribbon through then secured it with tape. Fill each pocket with goodies.

Ebi-kun really likes the My Daddy Is A Pretzel book so I was going to get the cards that go with the book but then I spotted a different set, made by the same people. I got Yoga Planet and it has yoga moves and different activities to do too, this would be a good set for a classroom as some of the activities are for groups. I also put in a really funny joke, OK that is a matter of opinion, and by request a math question again.

Thinking about the advent calendar...

Last year we were travelling during the advent season so I made the travelling advent calendar, I got a set of Japanese karuta cards with a dinosaur theme and put two in each envelope, wrote the number of the day on one of the polka dots for each envelope then strung them on a ring, made it easy to take with us and he ended up with a full set of playing cards at the end.

We will be at home this year so I needed to think of something to put in the advent stockings....

In previous years he has had the Muji mini pens shown below and the wooden Muji city pieces, it is difficult to find something with the right amount of pieces.

 

So this year I got a set of Where's Wally playing cards, on each card there is a Wally hiding so they should keep him doubly interested! I am going to put in a Christmas themed joke in each stocking too and then on days when he is off yochien I will add an activity for the day.