Advent Calendars

I come from a family of a million Christmas traditions, and I've been thinking about them a lot lately since we'll soon have a little one of our own. I'm going to highlight a few of my favorite traditions here over the holidays so here's one for today.

Each child in my family had their own advent calendar to count down to Christmas. I think mine was made by my Grandma Borup. It had a different item embroidered on it for each day and the numbers were all mixed up so you had to hunt for the right number. Each number had a loop with some embroidery thread to tie on a piece of candy. I used to love to stare at the fancy embroidery on it. Marissa's was made of red felt and had a little pocket for everyday. Candice's was a Christmas scene with numbers all the way around it with yarn to tie on the candy. It's funny because I think all of the kids in my family thought that their own advent calendar was the best one.

I haven't paid much attention to advent calendars since then, but now I find myself keeping my eye open for just the right one for our baby to be. There are so many fun options. I was just looking through the Ikea holiday catalogue and they had a fun do it yourself version.

Create an advent calendar by using gift boxes in different sizes and colors. Fix them on the wall and place a small gift in each! Paper board/plastic. Shown attached to the wall using double-sided tape (sold separately). Box size Ø1 5/8-Ø5 1/2". $4.99 for a set of 12 boxes.

I wish we had an Ikea close by!