Keeping Busy: Activity Advent Calendar

I have a colleague who tells me, every time she sees me on campus when I'm supposed to be off-track, "Someday I'm going to sit down and explain to you the definition of the word vacation." I'm definitely no workaholic, but five weeks is a long time to hang out at home without some projects to distract me from the endless cycle of mess-making (guess who?) and cleaning (me) that could easily eat up the majority of my time off. So, I've been stopping by school to tutor one of my kindergarteners whenever I'm in the area (which would be a lot more often if I didn't live 25 miles from my school), thinking about piloting an after-school peer tutoring program when we go back after Thanksgiving, planning our next science unit, and working on earning 7 more units on the salary scale before next school year starts.

This makes it sound like I am a) insanely busy and b) neglecting my poor children, but all it really means is that while I'm playing my 11th consecutive round of Hungry Hungry Hippos with Keira, or rocking Elliana before her nap, the little hamster wheel in my brain is spinning steadily. There are times when this habit is bothersome (like when I'm awakened by a random noise at 5 a.m. and then can't get back to sleep because my mind is already off and running), and times when I feel a little guilty about it (like when I read about those moms who spend their mental energy designing craft projects, lesson plans, and museum-worthy bento lunches for their kids), but the truth is that for whatever reason, I've become the type of person who feels compelled to mentally multi-task pretty much all the time...including when I'm hanging out with the girls. And sometimes, I'm thinking about things that have nothing to do with them.

I try to shut it off as often as I can, and really focus on being "in the moment" with them, but there's certainly room for improvement there. (Do I smell a New Year's Resolution?) Aside from that, I figure the best way to combine my need for taking on projects with my desire to focus more exclusively on the girls is to invest my mental energies in planning something that's entirely about them.

Enter the Activity Advent Calendar. (Ours is from Target.)


A mom-friend of mine told me about this idea last year, but it was too late in the holiday season and too daunting a task for me to take on at the time. This year, however, I'm all over it! Basically, instead of (or, in our case, in addition to) filling our advent calendar with candy for each day in December leading up to Christmas, we'll be including a note in each day's box, describing a special holiday-themed activity for the girls to enjoy that day. (Since we also celebrate Hanukkah, some of the activities in early December will probably be Hanukkah-related, too.)

Sounds complicated, doesn't it? It did to me, too, until my friend explained that you don't have to plan a whole month's worth of stuff ahead of time, or do anything terribly involved; you just keep it simple, have a list of ideas in mind, and fill out each day's note the night before (or morning of) depending on what you'll have time to do that day. Now that is do-able.

Here's a list of some of the ideas I have in mind so far:

• Help Mommy/Daddy light the menorah tonight


• Make s'mores and read a Christmas story together at bedtime


• Go to Disneyland and take a picture in front of the giant Christmas tree


• Help pack a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child


• Go pick out our Christmas tree


• Play the dreidel game


• Go to a holiday party


• Make a holiday craft with Mommy


• Watch a Christmas movie together


• Drive around and look at Christmas lights


• Bake and decorate cutout cookies


• Make gingerbread men


• Help Mommy send out holiday cards


• Go to Grandma Marmee and Pop-Pop's house for latkes and cheese blintzes


• Go to the mountains and play in the snow


• Deliver presents to the family we "adopt" through a shelter


• Go to the Festival of Lights downtown and take pictures with Santa


• Help Daddy put up the outdoor Christmas decorations


• Play games in front of the Christmas tree


• Listen to holiday music in the car


• Wrap a present for your teacher


• Go to Keira's Christmas play!

Now THAT should keep all of us (including me) plenty busy...and happy!

What holiday traditions (new or old) are you excited about this year? If you've done the Activity Advent Calendar idea before, what other activities are on yours?