The Advent Calendar Project

During the summer, I had this grand idea of making an advent calendar out of Eli's old baby food jars. Yes, I saved those little glass jars, they are just a craft project waiting to happen. Guess they'll be waiting a long time, because I just never could get around to putting those ideas into motion. In my head, it was going to be pretty cool, with scrapbook paper covering the jars, magnets, board shaped like a Christmas tree....simply fabulous, really. But then, as I was walking around Michael's one evening during one of my "I need to get out of the house and just walk around a store" moods, with a 50% off coupon burning a hole in my pocket, I saw this wooden advent calendar.

So, I bought it. And some paint.

I liked how the little drawers open - similar to how my baby food jars were going to open -

Worked on painting it. Took a few days, as I would paint at random times while Eli was busy or othewise occupied playing with his toy cars.

Put a coat of Mod Podge on it and a spray sealer too. Didn't make the final result as shiny as I kind of wanted, but it will do.

So, here it is! I used a black sharpie to outline different areas to make them show up better.

Now, it's time to put things in the drawers! Yes, it's December 7th and we really haven't done our calendar yet, but with eli's age and all - I figure it's ok. We'll be all set for next year.

For each day, I want to put a Bible verse, and then a neat Christmas time activity. I want to put some fun ones, such as make cookies, go see lights, sing carols, that kind of thing.

I also am going to make sure we do a lot of "giving" type activities too, such as buying a toy for Toys for Tots, donating old toys, taking treats to neighbors or elderly/shut in, that kind of thing.

I welcome any suggestions anyone has for activities to put in the drawers! Please leave a comment with your ideas - I'm still working on my list, it's hard to come up with 25 things! Thanks!