The season of giving
While looking for ideas for this year's Advent calendar, I came across a lot of nice DYI projects and wanted to share some of them through this post. Then I realized that what matters is not how you display the calendar, but the meaning that you give to it and how you decide to celebrate the days before Christmas.
So although this year I chose some nice and colored paper houses for display, I didn't only fill them with gifts. First of all because it's hard to find small gifts, that are well made and not only plastic toys that will break in a week or be abandoned in some toy-chest around the house. And second, because I don't want Radu to turn into a spoiled kid who expects to receive a new toy every day. Don't get me wrong, I am not judging anybody who decides to celebrate Advent with small treats for the kids. We are just adding a personal note, that goes hand in hand with our #intentionalliving project.
This December we are learning the art of giving as a family, and we're starting with the Advent calendar, where besides the wooden blocks from Plan Toys I added little notes for each of us, with a task or a message. Baking biscuits on a Saturday morning, choosing some old toys and some new ones for the gift boxes that we prepare for charity. Making decorations and Christmas cards and sending them to a community center for seniors. As a family we've been taking part in small community social projects for more then ten years, and now we wanted to involve Radu as well. The idea is to make it a fun activity, to let him choose some the toys that he wants to offer to other kids, to wrap the gifts together and to offer a little of our time to add a personal note to every package. And the most important to teach him to be grateful for what he has and to happily share what we can with those less fortunate. This is an idea inspired by Emily from thistleandfig.com , who shared the most wonderful and thoughtful Advent calendar project. A combination of Christmas activities and acts of service. Here are few of my favorite acts of kindness from her list: * Leave a treat in the mailbox for your mail carrier * Bake Christmas cookies and share them with a neighbor * Leave change in a vending machine Go to Emily's blog for the whole list!
There are a lot of beautiful projects this time of the year, at a personal or family level (like #thisthankfuladvent started by The Gratitude Attitude ), or in a more organized way. Just choose the one you like, and be a part of thr change!
PS. The images in this post are actually from one of my favorite projects, True art of giving ! Check it out!
First artwork by Saar Manche
Last artwork by Roos Mertens