A Christmas Tradition

Today is December 1st and that means a lot of things in this house. Besides being the official beginning of the end of the year it is also the start of our Advent Calendar tradition. We started this tradition three years ago and it has become one of my favorite parts of the season. Each year we pick either even or odd days (we've been trading back and forth so I'm odd this year) and then on our "days" we write a note to the other person and stick it in their Advent spot.

I got our Advent Calendar from Target and like how simple it is. I may play with it a bit this year though and change things up.  I've seen quite a few different versions of Advent Calendars out there from an origami crane one that was featured in the Good Housekeeping Christmas edition to the more traditional houses and doors. This is another of my favorites from Martha Stewart.

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I love the little socks which would be perfect for slipping notes and gifts in to. We tend to focus on love notes and poetry though occasionally we will throw in an early present or treat. I am always so excited to wake up and "find" my Advent from Daniel. Sometimes they are silly and sometimes they are sweet but they always leave me with a smile all day long.

After Christmas I put them all together into a book to keep. This is last years book

 It was just a hand made note book I got at a local store with the right number of pages. On each page I stamped the date and glued a little envelope to slip the note in to.

This is one I made using a left over invitation from our engagement party.

It is always a challenge to come up with something to say every other day but it is a great exercise in sitting back and reflecting on the things I love about Daniel and how important he is to my life. We love looking back on our notes and seeing how we have changed and grown in our love and our lives with each other. It makes the season even better (and I thought it was pretty great to begin with).

What about you? Anyone else have a good holiday tradition? Our other big tradition is making gingerbread houses from scratch. We are already sketching out our floor plans for the big event.

Cheers!