Advent Activites

I thought I should do a quick update on my attempt to be all "Super Mom-like" with our cutesy little Advent Activities I have planned for each day in December.

First, let it be known this is a huge strain on me. I am so not a crafty mom that always has fun things for the kids to do in the afternoon following school or during the long summer months. Our days are more likely spent with the Princesses going back and forth between playing and fighting, and whining to me about being bored to which I respond, "go read a book or something". So, to actually have an activity planned for every day for 24 days in a row... well that is a Big Deal.

In a nutshell: the activities that involve going somewhere, doing something, spending money, getting out of the house - those are a hit. Going to see Santa = awesome. Going to see Christmas lights = fabulous. Going to get ice cream (haven't done this yet but I already know) = extreme Princess happiness.

The activities that revolve around glue and construction paper and creative juices - yeah, not so much. Oh Princess #1 was perfectly happy making paper snowflakes, until she got frustrated because she couldn't cut through the layers of paper. Princess #2 loved the idea of stringing popcorn and cranberries, until she stuck her finger with the needle and got in trouble for eating all the popcorn. Princess #3 could just flat out care less. Sigh.

So. What have I learned from this, now 11 days into December? Advent Activities aren't always the perfect Norman Rockwell scenes I envisioned (and dang it, I was SURE that stringing cranberries would fit that bill exactly!). There are more days filled with whining about the activity not being fun enough, rather than excitement over what cool and exciting thing Your Majesty planned next. And I'm pretty sure I've totally set myself up for MAJOR damage control when Dec. 26th rolls around and I have nothing fun planned.

But we've made memories. I've got pictures of every activity (carefully taken of course, so as to promote the Norman Rockwell-ness, rather than the actual Griswold catastrophe most of them turned into). The Princesses look forward to finding out each day what their activity is. I look forward to spending special time with them. I think I'll probably attempt to do this again next year. But first, I gotta figure out how to get all the glitter off my kitchen floor.