This is the advent calendar that Aunt Ellie gave us years ago. Sometime in November, we sit down as a family and make up a list of 25 things we want to do together. Each one then gets written on a slip of paper and placed in one of the pockets of this advent calendar. Each day we open a pocket and do the thing inside.

The first year we did this, I kinda made the mistake of putting waaaaayyyyyy too many food things on here. All those Christmas cookies sound really good in November, but we had Christmas cookies coming out of our noses that year. So now, we do a lot more simple family fun things.

Today, our Family Fun Thing was – Decorate the House! (Which fortunately doesn’t include the tree).

So, here’s the drill: Send the children upstairs to fetch the Christmas bins. Watch the children bump down the stairs with bins that are bigger than they are. Hope Hewitt isn’t carrying the nativity set. Catch the wreath as it rolls down the stairs. Dive for the lids to the bins before they land on Jade. Restrain the children. Pose the children for a photo with their stockings. Play some Christmas music. Send all the everyday stuff back upstairs. Hide the frankincense and myrrh in a place where the children can’t reach it (it’s poisonous). Remember all our favorite decorations. Listen to the children exclaim, “I remember this. I love that. I want to put that up. Give me that. No, it’s mine.” Restrain the children some more.

You get the general idea.

I must admit that decorating the house is a lot easier now than a few years ago. First of all, not doing the tree on the same day helps. But also, a few years ago, I went through and drastically reduced the number of Christmas decorations we have. We kept just our favorite ones. They each have a specific place where they go (so we don’t have to figure it out each year). Christmas decorating is now not only fun for the children, but fun for mom too!!

Their favorite decorations are the Christmas stockings. I personally made one for Jim, me, Brett, and Cole. At that point, I was ready to quit making them. I was going to go out and buy matching stockings for everyone, but Grammy jumped in and saved the day! She makes a stocking for each new baby. It takes a LOT of hours to make the stockings. And each child cherishes theirs.

The tricky part of course was figuring out where to hang 10 stockings. Daddy figured that out our first year in this house. He hung little hooks on the living room wall. They stay there year round collecting cobwebs (if you click to enlarge the picture, you can see all those pretty cobwebs). And then in December they get put to good use!

Each year (I mean, each new baby) Daddy just needs to add another hook.

So the house is now decorated. The candles are lit. The Christmas music is playing (although we can’t find my Kenny Roger’s Christmas CD which is not a good thing because it reminds me of my Dad).

The Christmas season has officially arrived at the Jonas House.