{Advent Activities + Free Download}

I did not grow up with an Advent Tradition in my home. So a few years ago, when our dear friends the Kaetzel's invited us over to light an Advent candle, read Scripture, and sing songs together, I knew I wanted to start a tradition of our own. I loved the idea of being more intentional with focusing on the birth of Jesus, and also focusing on family during the busy holiday season.

{30 until 30}

In July, my little sister Destiny turned the big 30! I still can't believe it. Sometimes I can only picture us as gawky teenage girls sharing a room up in Alaska. My how life has changed :)

The 30th birthday is a big one if you ask me. The 20's are so tentative and ever changing, and in the 30's you're starting to solidify who you are. Dare I say become an adult?

This birthday was especially a big deal for Destiny because it was the last birthday before welcoming her first baby into the world.

I really wanted to make Destiny's 30th birthday celebration special, which is kind of hard to do when you live 1700+ miles apart. So this year, I borrowed an idea I saw done a few years ago for a friend's 30th birthday. I created a birthday advent calendar.

A what? Basically for the 30 days leading up until my sister's 30th birthday she opened up one gift a day. It was so much fun to send a box, out of the blue, filled with goodies. So what kinds of things did she get? Well my favorite was that every other day she would open up a card from a friend or family member and she had a scrapbook that she could glue her messages into. On the days that she wasn't opening a card, anything was possible. Some different gifts I sent: chocolates (of course), a yummy smelling candle, cute mug, a fun journal, my version of a BFF necklace, a lucky penny (minted in 1984), pedicure supplies (toes gotta look good when you go into the hospital), and a cute scarf to name a few.

It was so much fun to get a text from my sister each day, and so much fun to make her wonder each day what could possibly be in that box! I love that I could help her ring in her 30th while being so far away!

Wrapping up Advent

Where did the rest of December go?  I have no excuse for not blogging about the rest of our advent season, other than the fact that I was enjoying quality time with my husband. We had a week and a half off together and it was delightful!

So here is a list of our final Advent activities. Some of them we didn’t make it to, and we were okay with that! The moral of the story is that we were connecting during the chaos of the holidays and remembering the reason for the season. I think we earned an A+.

Day 16: Scripture Reading & Candle Lighting

Day 17: Create/Buy an ornament that symbolizes 2012 (I had a great idea, but wasn’t able to find the supplies to pull it off)

Day 18: Make Snowflakes and write what we’re thankful for.

Day 19: Enjoy Hot Cocoa & Marshmallows. I even made us Paleo Marshmallows to enjoy. And boy did we!

Day 20: Dance to our favorite Christmas song.

Day 21: Go Ice Skating (What a blast! We had never done this together!)

Day 22: Stocking Stuffer Challenge (1 store, a set amount of time and money. GO!)

Day 23: Scripture Reading & Candle Lighting ( We did this with our dear friends the Kaetzel’s!)

Day 24: Attend Christmas Eve Service at church (This was really nice and we even had some friends join us!)

Day 25: Celebrate Jesus’ birth