A simple little Advent Calendar that works

There are dozens…if not hundreds...of advent calendars out there. We've tried many different complicated varieties over the years. Invariably, we start out strong and then by mid-December we start forgetting and have to play catch up for the days we missed.

A couple of years ago, I created a simple Christmas tree advent to help my kids keep track of the days. Much to my surprise, we managed to follow through with it every day. We kept it on the fridge so we wouldn't lose track of it. Each morning whoever managed to get ready and sit down to breakfast first got to color in (or put a sticker on) one of the ornaments on the tree.

It became a fun little race each day and motivated the kids to get moving in the morning. Now that they're a little older, I think I will print out one for each of them and let them keep in in their school folders or on their bedroom doors.

I recreated the Christmas tree file this year and thought I'd post it on my website. It's not fancy or particularly creative, but that's the beauty of it. It's a 'no-mom-required' solution that works. Just thought I'd pass it on.

You can find this file in the free download section of my website www.meckmom.com.