Manic Monday: Countdown!

It's Christmas-time, which means, we're doing a COUNTDOWN!

I bought this guy, last year at Target for $3.

We're also doing one surprise a day in our mailbox.  The kids find a note in the mailbox that tells them where to find their surprise. Some of the days the surprise will be baking cookies, or shopping for presents for each other, etc.  But our first note, led us to the countdown calendar!

Countdowns are a great way to add excitement, and give your kids a reference point when they ask you for the umpteenth time, how many more days till Christmas!?  Kees is old enough to count, so I just send him to the calendar, and he does the work!

And here's a bit of a flashback for ya....

Last year, we were traveling most of November and the first half of December. We got back to Oklahoma the week of Christmas. While we were on the road, I bought the advent calendar, in November, and made the mistake of showing it to the kids.  Kees wanted to start right away.  I told him several times, that if we started, once we got to 25, we'd have to wait 5 days, and start over, and count all the way to 25 again because it wasn't December yet.  He thought that was a great idea, until we got to the 25 and it wasn't Christmas!  Keep in mind, I explained it several times, apparently not very well.  So, word to the wise....