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This
is probably the most favourite tradition in our house. We made our
advent calendar three years ago and the children are eagerly awaiting
its eminent return!
The idea basically is to make a hanging calendar which has twenty four
empty pockets. Each night leading up to Christmas the Advent fairy
visits and leaves a small gift, starting with the first pocket at the
bottom of the Christmas tree shape on the first night and gradually
moving up to the top of the tree by Christmas. The gifts may be a
little note, a special stone, a feather, some fairy dust, sweets,
special hair clips, or whatever you fancy. By Christmas Eve the
children have reached the top of the tree and know that Christmas is
almost here. Our Advent fairy puts a star at the top of the tree on
Christmas morning. We all have so much fun with this. If you are
really productive you could make each child their own calendar. Our
children share ours. The calendar can be used again and again over the
years and it doesn’t take long to become a much loved tradition.
There are a variety of ways to make a calendar so be creative. Mine
was made as follows:
-
A
rectangular piece of hessian (approximately 80cm by 60 cm)
-
A
large piece of green felt
-
Smaller
pieces of red felt
-
Two
sticks or pieces of dowel
-
Thick
fabric Christmas ribbon
The
hessian is the backing. A large Christmas tree shape, cut out of the
green felt, is sewn on to it. Twenty four small red hearts will be cut
out and arranged on the Christmas tree shape to make little pockets
for treats.
Use
the Christmas ribbon as binding on both sides of the hessian. Then
fold the hessian over at the top and the bottom and sew a place for
the dowel to fit through.
Cut
out the Christmas tree shape and sew it on in the centre of the
hessian. Arrange the hearts on the Christmas tree and either sew them
on by hand or use strong glue. Make sure you leave the top of the
heart open so that you can slip treats inside them.
Insert
the dowel at the top and bottom. Attach a string or ribbon to the top
dowel and hang you advent calendar.
You
may want to sew or write the numbers one to twenty four on the hearts,
starting with one at the bottom and twenty four at the very top. We
haven’t done that to ours yet, the children just count from the
beginning.
This
is well worth the effort as it will bring years of joy. Have fun
playing Advent Fairy! |
