reinventing the advent calendar

A couple of years ago, I stumbled upon a blog where the writer described a cool alternative to the advent calendar ritual. Not being a fan of the whole candy-a-day thing, the advent calendar was a holiday tradition I chose not to start in our household. But this idea does not involve candy — unless you want it to. In fact, you really have the flexibility to make of it what you want.

In the writer’s experience, she created a holiday elf who would adopt the family during advent and leave them an envelope each day which gave directives on things to do. The general feel was family and togetherness — all in the name of the holidays.

Starting a new holiday tradition sounds nice to me given that YaYa has gotten older and no longer “believes.” Although he wants to carry on as if — the putting out cookies, milk, and carrots, hanging stockings, etc. I thought this idea might be a perfect way to foster togetherness and giving during the holiday season.

Originally I pictured a wooden with 25 little drawers which would house the daily directives for things like stringing popcorn, making snowflakes, decorating the tree, making cards for teachers, and baking cookies for the neighbors. But alas I never found such a box and the seaon of advent officially started this past Sunday.

I figure I’ll try out this holiday ritual today (December 1st) and see if  it is something that I want to make a holiday tradition for years to come. I just need to quickly come up how I want to approach this idea and get it going tonight.

 At this point, I think I’ll adopt the letters from an elf idea [maybe even making him the head elf (aka Santa) — just for fun]. However, given that I haven’t started, I am open to other variations. Your ideas for activities and/or the delivery approach are welcome.